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NORTH  CAROLINA 


ENDOWED  BY  THE 

DIALECTIC  AND  PHILANTHROPIC 

SOCIETIES 


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DATE                          RET 
DUE 

%Y 

JUL  0C 

OCT  28: 

nrr/ 

"      .    C 

CT  2  8  21) 

7 

THE 


£185"  2, 

'Si  3 


^bJreedmen  of  the  south. 


5ri 


By  Linda  Waf^fel  Slaughter^ 

AUTHORESS    OF    "  EARLY    EFFORTS"     "  SUMMERINGS    IN    THE   SOUTH,"    ETC* 


CINCINNATI  : 
Printed  by  the  Elm  Street  Printing  Company, 

1869. 

KRAUS  REPRINT  CO. 

New  York 
1969 


LC  12-5310 


KRAUS  REPRINT  CO. 

A  U.S.  Division  of  Kraus-Thomson  Organization  Limited 
Printed  in  U.S.A. 


T° 


|;fa  JJissiotrarg  fl,eacfar$  of  ilt*{  %mti[, 


THIS    VOLUME 


Is  $if£ctionatd]}  ©jedisated 


BY    ONE    "WHO    HAS   8HARED 


Tto@to  Mvat8@cts.,  Tb©8p  P©P8©OMti@ns. 


|"<H\««t  I 


nromlS. 


PART      I.  ORIGIN  AND  HISTORY  OF  AMERICAN  SLAVERY. 

PART    II.  THE  FREEDMEN. 

PART  III.  ....     THE  FREEDMEN'S  BUREAU. 

PART  IV.  THE  MISSIONARY  SCHOOLS  OF  THE  SOUTH. 

PART    V.      PRESENT  CONDITION  AND  PROBABLE  FUTURE 

OF  THE  FREEDMEN. 


£5P 

i 


^f(Er  ACEx 


N  lieu  of  an  introduction  to  the  accompanying  work,  the 
writer  would  fain  offer  an  apology  for  its  incompleteness. 
Some  months  ago  the  finished  manuscript  of  a  similar,  but 
more  ambitious,  work  was  totally  destroyed  by  the  explosion 
of  a  lamp,  and  the  present  volume,  a  mere  skeleton  of  resurrected 
ideas  evoked  from  the  scattered  ashes  of  the  former  and  written  in  the 
intervals  of  labor  as  a  missionary  teacher  among  the  Freedmen,  is 
necessarily  imperfect. 

The  writer  has  long  been  of  opinion  that,  were  the  true  character 
and  condition  of  this  "peculiar  people"  correctly  set  forth,  it  would 
tend  greatly  to  lessen  the  unreasoning  prejudice  of  the  North  against 
them  personally,  while  on  the  other  hand,  were  the  South  capable  of 
comprehending  the  unselfish  motives  and  self-sacrificing  zeal  that  char- 
acterize the  great  body  of  the  despised  "  Yankee  Teachers  "  who  have 
had  the  effrontery  to  beard  the  Lion  of  Chivalry  in  his  den,  it  would 
doubtless  ameliorate  in  great  measure  the  malignant  bitterness  that 
has  heretofore  prompted  their  persecutions. 

A  work  of  the  present  nature  the  author  is  convinced  can  not  but 
be  conducive  to  a  more  thorough  understanding  of  the  vexed  question, 
as  well  as  conciliative  of  kindly  feeling  between  the  two  sections 
whose  interests,  though  divided,  are  one. 

With  such  a  motive,  and  for  such  a  purpose,  was  the  present  work 
designed.  It  is  a  registrar  of  facts,  not  of  opinions,  a  record  of  his- 
tory, and  a  "  plain,  unvarnished  "  statement  of  events  as  they  occurred, 
penned  in  no  spirit  of  malice,  but  kindly  in  behalf  of  "God's  poor." 

Trusting  it  may  be  instrumental,  in  some  slight  degree,  in  effecting 
so  desirable  a  result,  the  author  sends  it  adrift  upon  the  sea  of  litera- 
ture, bidding  both  it  and  the  courageous  laborers  in  the  lowly  vine- 
yards of  the  beautiful,  sunbright  South  an  earnest  "God  6peed!" 


PAET    I. 


(§RIGIN  AND  |§ISTORY  OF  i\^I\IGAR^AyEI\Y, 


»T  is  not  within  the  scope  of  the  present  work 
to  enter  into  a  lengthy  dissertation  upon  the 
growth  and  progress  of  a  system  the  history  of 
which  is  so  closely  interwoven  in  our  national  politics. 
Exercising,  as  it  did  in  federal  legislation,  an  influence 
second  to  none  other,  and  rendering  the  name  of  lib- 
erty in  free  America  a  byword  and  a  mockery,  negro 
slavery  comprises  in  its  history  the  political  history  of 
the  United  States;  for,  deny  it  as  you  may,  the  despised 
negro,  toiling  hopelessly  in  the  cotton  plains  of  the 
South,  ignorant,  degraded,  smarting  under  the  lash  of 
his  taskmaster  and  crushed  out  of  all  semblance  of 
manhood,  has  been,  in  the  Court  of  the  Republic,  the 
Archimedean  lever  that  moved  the  western  world.  In 
the  politics  of  the  past  he  was  the  passive  "  bone  of 
contention "  gnawed  in  succession  by  the  hungry 
office-seekers  of  each  successive  presidential  period. 
He  was  the  one  concrete  idea  about  whose  mental, 
moral,  social,  political,  physical  and  acquired  status 
and  responsibility  editors  wrangled,  priests  dissembled, 
politicians  schemed,  statesmen  legislated,  states  dis- 
puted, scholars  argued,  writers  wrote,  poets  prosed 
and  "  doctors  disagreed."  On  the  one  hand,  he  was 
7 


S  OfiZGIJY  3lJf2)  Hisroitr   or 

the  unconscious  object  of  pity  and  prayers  that  were 
unavailing,  of  benevolence  and  sympathy  that  could 
not  reach  him,  of  stirring  appeals  and  impassioned 
eloquence  that  he  could  not  hear,  of  earnest  pleadings 
and  plans  of  release  that  were  ever  unsuccessful;  and 
on  the  other,  the  patient  recipient  of  scorn  and  ridi- 
cule and  cruelty  and  hatred  that  ground  him  to  the 
dust  and  adjudged  him  destitute  of  all  "  rights  a  white 
man  was  bound  to  respect,"  that  severed  him  from 
family  ties  and  ignored  his  marriage  relations,  that 
shut  out  from  him  the  light  of  Christianity,  denied  his 
right  to  "liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,"  and 
granted  him  life  only  as  a  season  of  servitude,  that 
condemned  him  to  an  endless  round  of  thankless  toil 
and  cheerless  drudgery,  and  buried  him  at  last  as  a 
beast  of  burden  in  the  lowest  ditch  by  the  way-side. 

But  the  annals  of  this  licensed  traffic  in  the  souls  of 
men  have  already  been  recorded  by  abler  pens  than 
mine.  Aye,  more  than  that!  Its  history  is  graven  as 
with  a  pen  of  iron  into  thousands  of  living  human 
hearts;  it  is  carved  with  fetters  of  steel  and  lacerating 
blows  upon  hundreds  of  scarred  and  mutilated  bodies, 
and  its  baleful  effects  still  live  in  the  debased  intellect 
and  brutalized  minds  of  the  surviving  millions  of  its 
unhappy  subjects. 

But  slavery  in  these  latter  days  has  written  its  own 
epitaph  in  letters  of  blood,  and  the  creatures  of  its 
making,  the  helpless  objects  of  the  world's  soarn  and 
loathing,  stand  up  tremblingly  to  receive  the  world's 
baptism  of  civilization.  Tis  for  them,  dear  reader, 
that  I  would  enlist  your  interest,  your  sympathy,  and 
your  charity. 

But  first  let  us  turn  to  the  pages  of  the  past,  and 
trace  through  each  successive  era  the  influence  of  this 
national  wrong  upon  national  legislation. 


vlMEftlCoiW    SLAVERY.  9 

In  the  year  1620,  in  the  cold  and  silence  of  a  winter's 
day,  the  bark  Mayflower  landed  its  precious  freight  of 
human  courage,  endurance,  and  patriotism  upon  the 
inhospitable  shores  of  an  untried  wilderness,  and  from 
that  little  colony  of  determined  men  and  women  has 
sprung  the  Great  Eepublic  of  modern  days — the  Uni- 
ted States  <>f  North  America!  That  tiny  settlement 
upon  the  Atlantic  coast  has  steadily  extended  its  do- 
main until  now  it  embraces  in  its  limits  upward  of 
2,464,035  square  miles,  comprising  thirty-seven  States 
and  ten  TerritorieSj  the  largest  of  which  alone  is  equal 
in  compass  to  four  times  the  entire  area  of  England; 
and  boasting  a  population  of  thirty-eight  million  in- 
habitants, it  holds  the  key  to  the  inland  gulf,  and 
stands  face  to  face  with  Asia,  upon  the  newly  bought 
territory  of  the  Russian,  while  the  sun  that  rises  daily 
from  its  ocean  bath,  upon  the  landing  place  of  the 
Pilgrims,  sinks  nightly  into  the  blue  waters  of  the 
Pacific,  within  sight  of  its  western  borders. 

But  the  same  year  that  witnessed  the  obscure  birth 
of  the  new  nation,  looked  also  upon  the  arrival  of 
another  ship  freighted  like  the  former,  with  the  in- 
tegral elements  of  the  future  Eepublic,  but  unlike  the 
"Mayflower  of  the  Puritans,"  it  bore  in  its  hold  and 
implanted  in  the  infant  colony  the  seeds  of  strife  and 
discord  that  were  fated  to  dismember  the  nation.  A 
Dutch  man-of-war  landed  a  cargo  of  twenty  negro 
slaves  at  Jamestown,  Virginia.,  in  the  month  of  August 
of  that  year,  who  were  readily  purchased  by  the  colo- 
nists, and  from  this  slight  beginning  arose  the  mon- 
strous system  of  wrong  and  oppression  that  grew  up 
with  the  growth  of  the  commonwealth  and  strength- 
ened with  its  strength.  From  the  decks  of  that  Pil- 
grim bark  issued  the  courageous  embodiments  of  prin- 


10  OftlGIJV  AND    HIS  TO  lit    OF 

ciples  that  were  pure  and  stainless  as  the  snow  beneath, 
stern  and  inflexible  as  the  wintery  sky  above,  that  leav- 
ened the  shapeless  lump  out  of  which  was  to  arise  the 
young  republic,  with  the  leaven  of  purity,  of  religion, 
of  charity,  fidelity,  and  good-will  to  man,  and  hardened 
at  last  into  the  corner-stone  of  the  crude  nation. 

From  the  hold  of  the  slave  ship  proceeded  the  unclean 
representatives  of  enervating  luxury  and  unhealthy 
opulence:  the  hideous  harbingers  of  a  national  leprosy, 
purulent  and  pestilent  as  the  sultry  summer  season  that 
welcomed  them;  death-like  and  unnatural  as  the  black 
corpses  of  those  more  fortunate  victims  famished  by  the 
way,  and  flung  sullenly  overboard  into  the  freedom  of 
the  sea;  and  whose  virus,  touched  lightly  upon  the  yet 
unformed  republic,  became  a  foul  ulcer  upon  the  body 
politic,  and  permeated  its  every  pore. 

Thus  liberty  and  slavery  in  the  new  world  were  co- 
eval, and  walked  hand  in  hand  through  all  the  years 
of  its  subsequent  history,  upon  soil  professedly  free. 
Fostered  alike  by  its  institutions  and  protected  equally 
by  its  laws,  each  grew  so  much  a  part  and  parcel  of  the 
national  system,  that  to  separate  them  would  have  been 
as  dividing  asunder  the  joints  and  marrow. 

But  united,  as  it  were,  in  one  destiny,  bound  together 
in  one  union,  and  bearing  a  common  name  and  brother- 
hood, the  opposing  elements,  under  the  battle  names  of 
the  "  North  "  and  "  South  " — the  one  the  representative 
of  slavery,  of  oppression,  of  political  intolerance;  the 
other  the  spokesman  of  liberty,  of  political  equality, 
and  enlightened  freedom  of  speech — were  early  arrayed 
against  each  other  in  a  conflict  that  was  irrepressible, 
because  a  conflict  old  as  time  itself,  the  right  against  the 
wrong.  Intrenched  each  in  the  stronghold  of  its  own 
peculiar  section,  the  two  combatants  glared  fiercely  at 


AMERICAN    SLAVERY.  // 

each  other  across  the  State  line  landmarks  where  the 
North  ended  and  the  South  began,  and  disputed  inch 
by  inch  the  possession  of  governmental  territory  and 
governmental  offices.  Nor  were  there  wanting  within 
the  limits  of  the  former,  "  enemies  at  home,"  veritable 
"traitors  in  the  camp,"  who  aided  and  abetted  the  foes  of 
freedom ;  and  to  the  weight  of  their  ponderous  influence, 
thrown  unjustly  in  the  scale,  is  attributable  the  final 
supremacy  in  political  power  of  the  South,  herself 
greatly  the  inferior  in  wealth  and  population,  and  the 
fact  that  for  full  fifty  years  she  administered  the  gov- 
ernment, and  dispensed  its  official  patronage  only  to 
followers  of  her  faith. 

The  disheartened  advocates  of  freedom,  true  to  the 
faith  of  the  fathers  of  Plymouth,  abated  not  a  whit  of 
their  zeal  and  struggled  manfully  against  fearful  odds; 
but  the  chains  of  the  bondmen  seemed  indissolubly 
welded.  The  representatives  of  slavery  filled  the  Pres- 
idential mansion,  the  halls  of  Congress,  the  foreign 
missions,  and  their  counsels  prevailed  in  the  councils 
of  the  Cabinet.  The  four  million  successors  to  the 
score  of  hapless  passengers  in  that  hateful  vessel  had 
become,  unconsciously  to  themselves,  a  power  in  the 
land.  By  an  unjust  system  of  unequal  representation, 
th£  slaves  themselves  were  made  to  contribute  to  the 
aggrandizement  and  extension  of  the  slave  power. 
Thus  their  very  increase  in  numbers  but  rendered  their 
condition  more  pitiably  hopeless. 

Previously  to  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  it  can  not  be 
denied  that  the  English  Government  was  largely  in- 
strumental in  sustaining  and  encouraging  the  African 
slave  trade.  In  a  declaration  of  Congress,  dated  Oct. 
8th,  1774,  a  remonstrance  is  uttered  against  George  III. 
for  his  complicity  in  the  abhorred  traffic,  and  especially 


12  OftlGIJV  ^YD    HISTORY    OF 

for  an  abuse  of  his  kingly  prerogative  in  preventing 
the  prohibition  by  law  of  the  importation  of  slaves  into 
the  several  colonies.  Even  Virginia,  the  cradle  of  the 
monster,  protested  in  the  Williamsburg  Convention 
against  the  royal  interference,  which,  in  1  ke  manner, 
compelled  her  unwillingly  to  submit  to  their  landing 
on  her  soil.  Thus,  in  the  beginning,  it  was  virtually 
forced  upon  the  States;  but  after  the  cessation  of  hos- 
tilities it  again  revived,  and  continued  uninterruptedly 
to  increase  until  its  final  abolition  by  act  of  Congress. 

England  subsequently  made  ample  atonement  for  the 
wrong,  and  her  efforts  in  suppression  of  the  iniquitous 
system  were  wide-spread  and  successful.  By  twenty- 
three  treaties,  entered  into  in  less  than  thirty  years 
she  prevailed  upon  almost  all  the  Christian  nations  to 
interdict  the  slave  traffic  and  throw  their  influence  on 
the  side  of  "God  and  humanity,"  the  United  States 
alone  refusing  the  right  of  search. 

At  the  framing  of  the  Constitution,  in  1787,  the  Gov- 
ernment had  pledged  itself  not  to  abolish  the  slave 
trade  until  1808,  the  States  of  Georgia  and  South 
Carolina  refusing  to  enter  the  confederation  unless  it 
was  tolerated  at  least  twenty  years.  The  framers  of 
that  instrument,  with  their  habitual  fastidiousness  of 
language  in  regard  to  the  "peculiar  institution,"  tne 
word  slave  or  slavery,  even  in  acts  relating  solely  to 
them,  never  once  appearing  in  its  p'iges,  delicately 
foreshadowed  their  design  as  follows: 

Article  I.  Section  IX.  §1:  "The  migration  or  im- 
portation of  such  persons  as  any  of  the  existing  States 
shall  think  proper  to  admit,  shall  not  be  prohibited  by 
Congress  prior  to  the  year  1808." 

Thus  Congress,  by  granting  it  a  twenty  years'  lease 
of  life,  gave  it  an  additional  impetus,  the  interval  be- 


tween  the  framing  of  the  law  and  the  prohibition  of 
the  traffic  being  actively  filled  by  the  slavedealers. 
Like  wise  merchantmen  they  laid  in  an  abundant 
supply  of  human  flesh,  and  this  beiDg  effected,  the 
non-importation  of  slaves  from  abroad  acted  as  an  ef- 
fectual tariff  to  protect  the  domestic  trade;  and,  as  a 
consequence,  the  value  of  the  resident  slaves  was  very 
materially  hightened. 

Happily,  however,  the  progressive  spirit  of  liberty 
gradually  pervaded  the  minds  of  the  people,  and  com- 
pelled the  American  Congress  of  1794  to  anticipate,  by 
a  dozen  years,  the  contemplated  legal  .coup  de  grace. 

In  the  Northern  States  of  the  federation,  where,  from 
the  first,  the  system  had  met  with  but  doubtful  favor 
and  feeble  encouragement,  it  had  begotten  so  healthful 
a  state  of  public  sentiment,  that  slavery  was  already 
extinct  in  their  borders.  When  the  United  States  Con- 
stitution was  adopted,  every  State,  except  Massachu- 
setts, tolerated  slavery;  although,  in  1780,  before  the 
close  of  the  Evolutionary  War,  Pennsylvania  had  like- 
wise voted  its  gradual  extinction,  an  example  afterward 
followed  in  succession  by  all  the  other  States  north  of 
the  Delaware  Eiver;  and  twenty  years  later,  slavery 
existed  in  none  save  the  six  States  of  Delaware,  Mary- 
land, Virginia,  North  and  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia. 

By  the  census  of  1790  the  whole  aumber  of  slaves 
in  the  original  thirteen  States  was  given  at  670,633,  but 
so  great  was  the  increase  that  in  1820  there  was  shown 
to  be  in  those  six  States  alone  an  aggregate  of  1,620,340 
slaves. 

A  spirit  of  opposition  to  its  growth  and  increase  was 
early  manifested  at  the  North,  culminating  at  length 
in  the  American  Anti-Slavery  Society,  the  object  and 
aim  of  whose  being,  viz:  immediate  and  unconditional 


ti.  0RIG7JV  AJfD    HISTORY    OF 

emancipation,  is  explicitly  set  forth  in  Article  II.  of  its 
Constitution: 

"The  objects  of  this  Society  are  the  entire  abolition 
of  slavery  in  the  United  States.  While  it  admits  that 
each  State,  in  which  slavery  exists,  has,  by  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States,  the  exclusive  right  to  legis- 
late in  regard  to  its  abolition  in  that  State,  it  shall  aim 
to  convince  all  our  fellow-citizens  by  arguments  ad- 
dressed to  their  understandings  and  consciences,  that 
slaveholding  is  a  heinous  crime  in  the  sight  of  God; 
and  that  the  duty,  safety,  and  best  interests  of  all  con- 
cerned, require  its  immediate  abandonment,  without 
expatriation.  The  Society  will  also  endeavor  in  a  con- 
stitutional way  to  influence  Congress  to  put  an  end  to 
the  domestic  slave  trade;  and  to  abolish  slavery  in  all 
those  portions  of  our  common  country,  which  come 
under  its  control,  especially  in  the  District  of  Columbia, 
and  likewise  to  prevent  the  extension  of  it  to  any  State 
that  may  hereafter  be  admitted  to  the  Union." 

In  contradistinction  to  the  Anti-Slavery  Society  ap- 
peared the  American  Colonization  Society,  organized 
in  1816,  the  ostensible  object  of  which  was  the  gradual 
extinction  oi  slavery,  by  the  removal  of  all  the  blacks 
to  Africa,  by  means  of  compulsory  emigration.  Its 
operations,  however,  appear  to  have  been  confined  al- 
most exclusively  to  free  persons  of  color;  and  its  animus 
and  purpose  are  sufficiently  shown  in  this  remark  of 
Mr.  Randolph,  one  of  its  projectors: 

"  So  far  from  b$ing  in  the  smallest  degree  connected 
with  the  abolition  of  slavery,  the  proposed  Society 
would  prove  one  of  the  greatest  securities  to  enable  the 
master  to  keep  in  possession  his  own  property." 

And  further  in  the  first  report  of  its  President,  Henry 

Clay: 

11  It  is  not  proposed  to  deliberate  upon,  ot  consider  at 
all,  any  question  of  emancipation,  or  any  that  is  con- 
nected with  the  abolition  of  slavery." 


And  again  in  the  seventh  Annual  Report: 

"An  effort  for  the  benefit  of  the  blacks,  in  which  all 
parts  of  the  country  can  unite,  of  course  must  not  have 
the  abolition  of  slavery  for  its  immediate  object;  nor 
may  it  aim  directly  at  the  instruction  of  the  blacks." 

We  copy  further  from  the  proceedings  of  its  Auxili- 
ary Societies,  from  its  organ,  the  African  Repository, 
and  from  the  speeches  of  its  members,  as  showing  the 
spirit  of  the  times  in  the  great  body  of  the  North : 

"  The  treatment  of  the  slaves  is  in  general  as  good  as 
circumstances  and  the  cruel  necessity  of  the  case  will 
permit."    Proceedings  of  N.  York  Col.  Soc.  2d  Ann. 

"  Suppose  the  slaves  of  the  South  to  have  the  knowl- 
edge of  freemen,  they  would  be  free,  or  exterminated 
by  the  whites.  This  renders  it  necessary  to  prevent 
their  instruction,  and  to  keep  them  from  Sunday-schools, 
or  the  means  of  gaining  knowledge."  Proceedings  of 
N.  York  Col.  Soc.  2d  Ann.  Rep. 

"It  is  the  business  of  the  free,  their  safety  requires  it, 
to  keep  the  slaves  in  ignorance."  Proceedings  of  N.  Y. 
Col.  Soc.  2d  Ann. 

"  To  set  them  (the  slaves)  loose  among  us,  would  be 
an  evil  more  intolerable  than  slavery  itself."  Report  of 
kcncucky  Col.  Soc.     Af.  Rep.  VI.  81. 

"As  long  as  our  present  feelings  and  prejudices 
exist,  the  abolition  of  slavery  can  not  be  accomplished 
without  the  removal  of  the  blacks."  2d  Report  N. 
York  Soc. 

"By  removing  the  most  fruitful  sov.rces  of  discontent 
(free  blacks)  from  among  our  slaves,  we  should  render 
them  more  industrious  and  attentive  to  our  commands." 
Address  of  Putnam  (Georgia)  Col.  Society. 

"  To  remove  these  persons  from  among  us,  wi41  in- 
crease the  usefulness,  and  improve  the  moral  character 
of  those  who  remain  in  servitude,  and  with  whose  labors 
the  country  is  unable  to  dispense."  Address  to  a  N.  Caro- 
lina Col  Soc.    Af.  Rep.  III.  67. 


/e  ORIGIN  ?iA"2)    HISTORY    OF 

"  The  removal  of  every  single  free  black  in  America, 
would  be  productive  of  nothing  but  safety  to  the  slave 
holder."   Af.  Rep.  III.  202. 

"  By  removing  these  people  (free  blacks),  wo  rid  our- 
selves of  a  large  party  who  will  always  be  ready  to 
assist  our  slaves  in  any  mischievous  design  they  may 
conceive."  Address  to  a  Col.  Soc.  in  Virginia.  Af.  Hep. 
I.  176. 

"  It  is  a  well-established  point,  that  the  public  safety 
forbids  either  the  emancipation  or  the  general  instruc- 
tion of  the  slaves."     7  th  Report,  p.  94. 

"  The  Society  having  declared  that  it  is  in  no  wise 
allied  to  any  Abolition  Society  in  America  or  elsewhere, 
is  ready  when  there  is  need,  to  pass  a  censure  upon 
such  Societies  in  America."    11th  Report,  p.  14. 

"  We  would  say,  liberate  them  only  on  condition  of 
their  going  to  Africa  or  Hayti."   Af.  Rep.  III.  26. 

"  So  far  from  having  a  dangerous  tendency,  when 
properly  considered,  it  will  be  viewed  as  an  additional 
guard  to  our  peculiar  species  of  property."  New  Orleans 
Argus. 

"So  long  as  we  can  hold  a  pen,  we  will  employ  it 
heart  and  hand,  against  the  advocates  of  immediate 
emancipation,  or  any  emancipation  that  does  not  con- 
template expatriation:1  N.  Y.  Courier  and  Enquirer,  a 
Col.  paper,  10th  July,  1834. 

"  What  right,  I  demand,  have  the  children  of  Africa 
to  a  homestead  in  the  white  man's  country?"  Speech  of 
Mr.  Custiss,  14M  Report,  p.  21. 

"The  habits,  the  feelings,  all  the  prejudices  of  so- 
ciety— prejudices  which  neither  refinement,  nor  argu- 
ment, nor  education,  nor  religion  itself,  can  subdue — 
mark  the  people  of  color,  whether  bond  or  free,  as  the 
subjects  of  degradation  inevitable  and  incurable.  The 
African  in  this  country  belongs  by  birth  to  the  very  low- 
est station  in  society;  and  from  that  station  he  can 
never  rise,  be  his  talents,  his  enterprise,  his  virtues,  what 
they  may.    They  constitute  a  class  by  themselves— a 


AMERICAN   SLAVERY.  17 

class  out  of  which  no  individual  can  be  elevated,  and  below 
which  none  can  be  depressed."  African  Repository,  vol. 
iv.,  pp.  118,  119. 

Later,  a  determined  effort  for  the  gradual  emancipa- 
tion of  the  slaves,  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  was  made 
by  a  minority  at  the  North,  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  having  granted  to  Congress,  by  the  8th 
Section  of  the  1st  Article,  the  right  to  "exercise  exclu- 
sive legislation  in  all  cases  whatever"  in  the  seat  of  Gov- 
ernment, and  over  the  territory  of  the  District.  And, 
by  the  1st  Article  of  the  Amendments,  it  was  restrained 
from  making  any  law  "abridging  the  freedom  of  speech, 
or  the  press,  or  the  right  of  the  people  peaceably  to 
assemble  and  to  petition  the  Government  for  a  redress 
of  grievances." 

Thus  the  Abolitionists,  as  they  were  called,  even  at 
that  early  period,  perceiving  the  right  of  Congress  to 
abolish  slavery  in  the  District,  and  arrogating  their 
own  authority  to  petition  for  its  removal,  urged  upon 
Congress  the  propriety  and  expediency  of  its  gradual 
extinction. 

In  1828  the  Pennsylvania  Legislature,  by  an  almost 
unanimous  vote, 

"  Kesolved,  That  the  Senators  of  this  State,  in  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States,  are  hereby  requested  to 
procure,  if  practicable,  the  passage  of  a  law  to  abolish 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  in  such  a  manner 
as  they  may  consider  consistent  with  the  rights  of  in- 
dividuals, and  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States." 

In  1828  a  petition  for  the  suppression  of  this  trade, 
and  for  the  gradual  abolition  of  slavery,  and  signed  by 
more  than  one  thousand  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Dis- 
trict, was  presented  to  Congress.  From  this  document 
we  extract  the  following: 


zs  oftiGMV  aw?)  irisrosr  ojf 

"  While  the  laws  of  the  United  States  denounce  the 
foreign  slave  trade  as  piracy,  and  punish  with  death 
those  who  are  found  engaged  in  its  perpetration,  there 
exists  in  this  District,  the  seat  of  the  National  Govern- 
ment, a  domestic  slave  trade  scarcely  less  disgraceful 
in  its  ch'Vacter,  and  even  more  demoralizing  in  its  in- 
fluence., *  These  people  are  without  their  consent  torn 
from  tn'eir  homes;  husband  and  wife  are  frequently 
separated  and  sold  into  distant  parts — children  are 
taken  from  their  parents,  without  regard  to  the  ties  of 
nature,  and  the  most  endearing  bonds  of  affection  are 
broken  for  ever. 

"Nor  is  this  traffic  confined  to  those  who  are  legally 
slaves  for  life.  Some  who  are  entitled  to  freedom,  and 
many  who  have  a  limited  time  to  serve,  are  sold  into 
unconditional  slavery,  and  owing  to  the  defectiveness  of 
our  laws,  they  are  generally  carried  out  of  the  Dis- 
trict before  the  necessary  steps  can  be  taken  for  their 
release. 

"  We  behold  these  scenes  continually  taking  place 
among  us,  and  lament  our  inability  to  prevent  them. 
The  people  of  this  District,  have,  within  themselves, 
no  means  of  legislative  redress,  and  we  therefore  appeal 
to  your  honorable  body,  as  the  ONLY  ONE  vested  by 
the  American  Constitution  with  power  to  relieve  us." 

In  1829  a  resolution  to  that  effect  was  introduced 
into  the  House  of  Representatives  by  Mr.  Miner,  a 
member  from  Pennsylvania.  We  make  the  following 
extracts  from  his  speech  in  support  of  the  resolution: 

"  The  slave  trade,  as  it  exists  and  is  carried  on  here, 
is  marked  by  instances  of  injustice  and  cruelty  scarcely 
exceeded  on  the  coast  of  Africa.  It  is  a  mistake  to 
suppose  it  is  a  mere  purchase  and  sale  of  acknowledged 
slaves.  The  District  is  full  of  complaints  on  the  sub- 
ject, and  the  evil  is  increasing.  So  long  ago  as  1802, 
the  extent  and  cruelty  of  the  traffic,  produced  from  a 
grand  jury,  at  Alexandria,  a  presentment  so  clear,  so 
strong,  and  so  feelingly  drawn,  that  I  shall  make  no 
apology  for  reading  it  to  the  House," 


AMERICAN    SLAVE HX.  f& 

Mr.  Miner  then  read  the  following: 

"January  Term,  1802. 

"We,  the  grand  jury  for  the  body  of  the  County  of 
Alexandria,  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  present  as  a 
grievance  the  practice  of  persons  coming  ft\  i  distant 
parts  of  the  United  States  into  this  Distric  for  the 
purpose  of  purchasing  slaves,  where  they  exhibit  to 
our  view  a  scene  of  wretchedness  and  human  degrada- 
tion, disgraceful  to  our  characters  as  citizens  of  a  free 
government.  True  it  is,  that  these  dealers,  in  tho 
persons  of  our  fellow-men,  collect  within  this  District, 
from  various  parts,  numbers  of  those  victims  of  slavery, 
and  lodge  them  in  some  place  of  confinement  until  they 
have  completed  their  numbers.  They  are  then  turned 
out  in  our  streets  and  exposed  to  view,  londed  with 
chains  as  though  they  had  committed  some  heinous 
offense  against  our  laws.  We  consider  it  a  grievance 
that  citizens  from  distant  parts  of  the  United  States 
should  be  permitted  to  come  within  this  District,  am! 
pursue  a  traffic  fraught  with  so  much  misery  to  a  class 
of  beings  entitled  to  our  protection  by  the  laws  of 
justice  and  humanity;  and  that  the  interposition  of 
civil  authority  can  not  be  had  to  prevent  parents  being 
wrested  from  their  offspring,  and  children  from  their 
parents,  without  respect  to  the  ties  of  nature.  Wo 
consider  these  grievances  d*dma,nd\nglegidative  redress." 

"  In  August,  1821,  a  black  man  was  taken  up  and 
imprisoned  as  a  runaway.  He  was  kept  confined  until 
October,  1822 — four  hundred  and  five  days.  h\  this 
time,  vermin,  disease,  and  misery  had  deprived  him  of 
the  use  of  his  limbs.  He  was  rendered  a  cripple  for  life, 
and  finally  discharged  as  no  one  would  buy  him.  Turned 
out  upon  the  world  a  miserable  pauper,  disabled  by  our 
means  from  gaining  subsistence,  he  is  sometimes  sup- 
ported from  the  poor-house,  sometimes  receives  alms 
in  your  streets." 

"  There  is  now  a  man  in  this  District  who  was  in 
the  hands  of  the  slavedealers,  about  to  be  sent  off  to 
the  South,  when  he  laid  his  hand  on  a  block  and  with 


20  0RIG1JV  siJV^D   HISTORY    OF 

an  ax  severed  it  from  his  arm.  Can  the  slave  trade 
on  the  coast  of  Africa  be  more  horrible,  more  dreaded, 
or  more  prolific  of  scenes  of  misery?  " 

Referring  to  the  infamous  law  by  which  negroes 
could  be  arrested  on  suspicion  of  being  fugitive  slaves 
and  imprisoned  until  claimed  as  such,  and  in  default 
of  that  to  be  sold  as  slaves  for  life,  to  liquidate  their  jail 
fees,  Mr.  Miner  adduced  the  disgraceful  facts,  that,  in 
the  five  previous  years,  no  fewer  than  seven  hundred  and 
forty  two  colored  persons  had  been  lodged  in  the  United 
States  prison  at  Washington,  not  one  of  whom  was  con- 
victed or  even  accused  of  crime.  Four  hundred  and 
fifty-two  were  imprisoned  for  safe  keeping,  prior  to 
exportation  by  the  slave  traders;  the  remainder  were 
merely  suspected  ot  being  fugitive  slaves,  and,  by  au- 
thority of  Congress,  liable  to  be  sold  into  perpetual  bond- 
age, if  indeed  no  generous  claimant  appeared  to  pay 
the  expenses  of  their  imprisonment,  no  further  proof 
of  ownership  being  necessary. 

Thus  the  American  slave  trade,  under  the  protection 
of  Congress,  had  attained  a  most  flourishing  condition 
in  the  capital  of  the  confederate  republic.  What 
wonder  that  the  "boasted  banner  of  the  free"  was 
hailed  by  the  English  satirist,  as 

"  Tne  fustian  flag  that  proudly  waves, 
la  splendid  mockery,  e'er  a  land  of  slaves!" 

But,  perhaps,  the  most  biting  sarcasm  ever  uttered 
is  contained  in  the  following: 

"  A  troop  of  slaves  once  passed  through  Washington 
on  the  Fourth  of  July,  while  drums  were  beating  and 
standards  flying.  One  of  the  captive  negroes  raised 
his  hand,  loaded  with  irons,  and  waving  it  toward  the 
starry  flag,  sung,  with  a  smile  of  bitter  irony,  'Hail 
Columbia!  happy  land?l  " 


AMERICAN   SLAVER T.  2/ 

On  the  28th  of  January,  1829,  a  Committee  of  the 
New  York  Assembly  reported  to  the  House : 

"Your  Committee  can  not  but  view  with  astonish- 
ment that  in  the  capital  of  this  free  and  enlightened 
country,  laws  should  exist  by  which  the  free  citizens 
of  a  State  are  liable,  without  trial,  and  even  without 
the  imputation  of  a  crime,  to  be  seized  while  prosecut- 
ing their  lawful  business,  immured  in  prison,  and, 
though  free,  unless  claimed  as  a  slave,  to  be  sold  as 
such  for  the  payment  of  jail  fees." 

The  Committee  recommended  the  following  resolu- 
tion, which  was  adopted  by  the  Assembly: 

"Resolved  (if  the  Senate  concur  herein),  That  the 
Senators  of  this  State,  in  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  be  and  are  hereby  instructed,  and  the  Repre- 
sentatives of  this  State  are  hereby  requested,  to  make 
every  possible  exertion,  to  effect  the  passage  of  a  law  for 
the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia." 

These  urgent  petitions,  as  will  be  seen,  were  not 
without  effect  upon  the  honorable  body  to  which  they 
were  addressed.  On  the  9th  of  January,  1829,  the 
House  of  Representatives 

"Resolved,  That  the  Committee  of  the  District  of 
Columbia,  be  instructed  to  inquire  into  the  expediency 
of  providing  by  law  for  the  gradual  abolition  of  slavery 
in  the  District,  in  such  manner  that  no  individual  shall 
be  injured  thereby." 

The  American  Anti-Slavery  Society  likewise  threw 
the  weight  of  its  influence  into  the  scale,  to  induce 
Congress  to  exercise  its  right  of  removal.  Indeed  the 
great  body  of  the  New  England  people  were  united 
and  firm  in  their  desire  for  its  total  extinction.  The 
Hon.  John  Q.  Adams  was  intrusted  with  fifteen  peti- 
tions for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Co- 
lumbia,  yet,  strange  to  say,  he  offered  them  to  Congress, 


22  ORIGIJV  AJTD    HISTORY    OF 

protesting  strongly  against  their  spirit.  Another  mem- 
ber from  Massachusetts,  who  was  commissioned  with  a 
like  memorial,  had  not  the  moral  courage  to  present  it. 

Mr.  Adams,  however,  who  had  always  warmly  con- 
tended for  the  right  of  petition,  continued  to  present  in 
the  House  all  memorials  on  the  subject  sent  to  him, 
nothing  daunted  by  the  violence  and  opposition  of  the 
Southern  members. 

At  length,  so  numerous  and  importunate  became 
these  petitions,  and  so  determined  was  Mr.  Adams  in 
upholding  the  right  of  the  people  to  petition  for  any 
purpose  whatever,  that  some  action  on  the  part  of  the 
House  became  necessary.  A  Committee  was  accord- 
ingly appointed  to  consider  what  disposal  should  there- 
after be  made  of  similar  memorials;  and  on  the  18th  of 
May,  1836,  they  returned  a  lengthy  report,  and  recom- 
mended the  adoption  of  the  following  resolutions: 

"  Resolved,  That  Congress  possesses  no  constitu- 
tional authority  to  interfere  in  any  way  with  the  in- 
stitution of  slavery,  in  any  of  the  States  of  this 
confederacy. 

"  Resolved,  That  Congress  ought  not  to  interfere  in 
any  way  with  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 

"And  Whereas,  It  is  extremely  important  and  de- 
sirable that  the  agitation  of  this  subject  should  be 
finally  arrested,  for  the  purpose  of  restoring  tranquillity 
to  the  public  mind,  your  Committee  respectfully  rec- 
ommend the  adoption  of  the  following  additional  res- 
olution, viz: 

"Resolved,  That  all  petitions,  memorials,  resolu- 
tions, propositions,  or  papers,  relating  in  any  wa}r,  or 
to  any  extent  whatever,  to  the  subject  of  slavery,  or 
the  abolition  of  slavery,  shall,  without  being  cither 
printed  or  referred,  be  laid  upon  the  table,  and  that  no 
further  action  whatever  shall  be  had  thereon." 

The  resolution  passed  the  House  by  a  large  mnjoritj'. 


siMJESlCsiJV   SLAVER r.  33 

In  1845,  however,  the  resolution  was  rescinded,  and 
Congress  consented  to  receive  and  treat  respectfully  all 
petitions  on  the  subject  of  slavery. 

But  petitions,  entreaties,  protestations,  and  argu- 
ments, alike  failed  of  their  purpose.  Slavery  contin- 
ued to  flourish  in  the  capital  of  the  "freest  nation  upon 
the  earth."  The  crack  of  the  driver's  whip,  and  the 
cries  of  his  helpless  victim,  arose  to  the  God  of  justice, 
within  hearing  of  the  highest  dignitaries  of  the  land; 
yet  silently  they  assented  to  this  hourly  crucifixion  of 
freedom,  and,  Pilate-like,  washed  their  guilty  hands  of 
all  complicity  in  the  matter. 

The  domestic  slavery  of  the  Southern  States,  being 
under  the  exclusive  control  of  the  several  Legislatures 
of  those  States,  Congress  had  no  authority  (even  had 
the  inclination  not  been  wanting),  to  interfere  in  the 
emancipation  of  their  slaves,  or  in  anywise  to  regulate 
the  laws  applying  to  them. 

In  these  States,  the  domestic  commerce  having  super- 
seded the  foreign,  it  was  carried  on,  both  by  land  and 
water,  with  a  degree  of  energy  and  success  unequaled 
in  the  latter,  but  marked  with  all  its  attendant  horrors 
of  separation  and  suffocation.  Several  entire  States 
were  engaged  in  the  business  of  raising  and  selling 
slaves  to  supply  the  extreme  Southern  market.  The 
mode  of  transportation,  by  which  this  strange  species 
of  live  stock  were  transmitted  by  water,  is  shown  in 
this  brief  extract  from  a  description  of  a  slaver  be- 
longing to  a  wealthy  firm  of  dealers  in  Alexandria,  and 
employed  in  conveying  slaves  from  that  point  to  New 
Orleans. 

'The  hold  is  appropriated  to  the  slaves,  and  is  di- 
vided into  two  apartments.  The  after-hold  will  carry 
about  eighty  women,  and  the  other  about  one  hundred 


2£  ORIGIN  AND    HISTOHY    OF 

men.  On  either  side  were  two  platforms,  running  the 
whole  length;  one  raised  a  few  inches,  and  the  other 
half  way  up  to  the  deck.  They  were  about  five  or  six 
feet  deep.  On  these  the  slaves  lie,  as  close  as  they  can 
stow  away." 

Scarcely  less  pitiable  was  the  plight  of  those  who 
were  conveyed  by  land  into  the  interior.  A  gentleman 
thus  describes  a  coffle  he  met  entering  Paris,  Kentucky : 

"About  forty  black  men  were  chained  together;  each 
of  them  was  handcuffed,  and  they  were  arranged  rank 
file.  A  chain,  perhaps  forty  feet  long,  was  stretched 
between  the  two  ranks,  to  which  short  chains  were 
joined,  connected  with  the  handcuffs.  Behind  them 
were  about  thirty  women,  tied  hand  to  hand.  Every 
countenance  wore  a  solemn  sadness;  and  the  dismal 
silence  of  despair  was  only  broken  by  the  sound  of  two 
violins.  Yes — as  if  to  add  insult  to  injury,  the  fore- 
most couple  were  furnished  with  a  violin  apiece;  the 
second  couple  wece  ornamented  with  cockades;  while 
near  the  center  our  national  standard  was  carried  by 
hands  literally  in  chains." 

As  may  well  be  imagined,  the  North  did  not  look  on 
with  indifference  while  crimes  of  such  magnitude  were 
being  perpetrated  in  the  name  and  under  the  sanction 
of  the  republic. 

A  New  York  paper,  November,  1829,  contains  the 
following  caution : 

" Beware  of  Kidnappers. — It  is  well  understood  that 
there  is  at  present  in  this  city  a  gang  of  kidnappers, 
busily  engaged  in  their  vocation  of  stealing  colored 
children  for  the  Southern  market!  It  is  believed  that 
three  or  four  have  been  stolen  within  as  many  days. 
A  little  negro  boy  came  to  this  city  from  the  country 
three  or  four  days  ago.  Some  strange  white  persons 
were  very  friendly  to  him,  and  yesterday  morning  he 
was  mightily  pleased  that  they  had  given  him  some 
new  clothes.     And  the  persons  pretending  thus  to  be- 


AMERICAN    SLAVERY.  25 

friend  him,  entirely  secured  his  confidence.  This  day- 
he  can  not  be  found.  Nor  can  he  be  traced  since  seen 
with  one  of  his  new  friends  yesterday.  There  are  sus- 
picions of  a  foul  nature,  connected  with  some  who  serve 
the  police  in  subordinate  capacities.  It  is  hinted  that 
there  may  be  those  in  some  authority,  not  altogether 
ignorant  of  these  diabolical  practices.  Let  the  public 
be  on  their  guard !  It  is  still  fresh  in  the  memories  of 
all,  that  a  cargo,  or  rather  drove,  of  negroes,  was  made 
up  from  this  city  and  Philadelphia,  about  the  time  that 
the  emancipation  of  all  the  negroes  in  this  State  took 
place  under  our  present  Constitution,  and  were  taken 
through  Virginia,  the  Carolinas,  and  Tennessee,  and 
disposed  of  in  the  State  of  Mississippi.  Some  of  those 
who  were  taken  from  Philadelphia  were  persons  of  in- 
telligence, and  after  they  had  been  driven  through  the 
country  in  chains,  and  disposed  of  by  sale  on  the  Mis- 
sissippi, wrote  back  to  their  friends,  and  were  rescued 
from  bondage.  The  persons  who  were  guilty  of  this 
abominable  transaction  are  known,  and  now  reside  in 
North  Carolina;  they  may,  very  probably,  be  engaged 
in  similar  enterprises  at  the  present  time — at  least 
there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  system  of  kidnap- 
ping free  persons  of  color  from  the  Northern  cities  has 
been  carried  on  more  extensively  than  the  public  are 
generally  aware  of." 

Steadily  the  North  continued  its  opposition;  and  as 
new  States  were  formed  and  admitted  into  the  Union, 
it  resisted  openly,  and  at  times  defiantly,  its  encroach- 
ments upon  their  domain.  In  1787  the  territory  north- 
west of  the  Ohio  Eiver  had  been  organized  with  the 
stipulation  that  slavery  should  never  be  introduced  into 
that  section  of  country;  but  gradually  the  influence  of 
the  South  dominated  in  legislation,  and  this  predomin- 
ance was  arrogantly  visible  in  the  public  measures  and 
policy  of  the  Government. 

By  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  represent- 
3 


96  OHIGIJT   AA'D    HISl'Onr    OF 

ation  was  distributed  among  the  States  in  proportion 
to  the  amount  of  population,  as  follows: 

Article  I.  Section  II.  §  3:  u  Representatives  and  di- 
rect taxes  shall  be  apportioned  among  the  States  ac- 
cording to  their  respective  numbers;  which  shall  be 
ascertained  by  adding  to  the  whole  number  of  free 
persons,  including  those  bound  to  servitude  for  a  term  of 
years,  and  excluding  Indians  not  taxed,  three-fifths  of  all 
other  persons" 

Thus,  five  slaves,  in  the  apportionment  of  the  repre- 
sentatives, counted  as  much  as  three  freemen,  thereby 
giving  to  the  South  an  undue  proportion  of  Congress- 
men, in  relation  to  the  free,  white  population;  an  ad- 
vantage they  were  not  slow  to  improve  in  the  advance- 
ment of  their  own  peculiar  interests. 

A  direct  appeal  to  the  selfishness  of  the  North  was 
the  motor  power  that  won  from  it  a  reluctant  consent 
to  the  unequal  arrangement. 

The  South  assumed  a  proportion  of  direct  taxes  to 
be  increased  in  the  same  ratio  as  their  representation, 
and  conceded  to  the  small  States  an  entire  equality  in 
the  Senate.  This  was,  at  the  time,  viewed  as  a  conces- 
sion on  the  part  of  the  slaveholding  to  the  free  States; 
and,  although  at  first  regarded  with  distrust  and  re- 
pugnance in  the  North,  yet  immediate  self-interest 
prevailed.  Esau-like  it  bartered  its  birthright,  and 
for  these  equivalents  slave  representation  was  accepted. 

To  this  representation,  which  in  1832  amounted  to 
twenty-five  representatives,  in  excess  of  the  white 
population,  the  South  is  indebted  for  its  uniform  suc- 
cess in  shaping  the  course  of  the  Government  so  as  to 
insure  the  preservation  and  extenuation  of  the  slave- 
power.  We  copy  from  the  eloquent  speech  of  John 
Adams,  on  the  Tariff,  February  4,  1833: 


AMERICAN    SZA}'£ft2~.  27 

"The  history  of  the  Union  has  afforded  a  continual 
proof  that  this  representation  of  property,  which  they 
enjoy,  as  well  in  the  election  of  President  and  Vice- 
President  of  the  United  States,  as  upon  the  floor  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  has  secured  to  the  slave- 
holding  States  the  entire  control  of  the  national  policy, 
and,  almost  without  exception,  the  possession  of  the 
highest  executive  office  of  the  Union.  Always  united 
in  the  purpose  of  regulating  the  affairs  of  the  whole 
Union  by  the  standard  of  the  slaveholding  interest, 
their  disproportionate  numbers  in  the  electoral  colleges 
have  enabled  them,  in  ten  out  of  twelve  quadrennial 
elections,  to  confer  the  chief  magistracy  upon  one  of 
their  own  citizens.  Their  suffrages  at  every  election, 
without  exception,  have  been  almost  exclusively  con- 
fined to  a  candidate  of  their  own  caste.  Availing 
themselves  of  the  divisions  which,  from  the  nature  of 
man,  always  prevail  in  communities  entirely  free,  they 
have  sought  and  found  auxiliaries  in  the  other  quarters 
of  the  Union,  by  associating  the  passions  of  parties,  and 
the  ambition  of  individuals,  with  their  own  purposes, 
to  establish  and  maintain  throughout  the  confederated 
nation  the  slaveholding  policy.  The  office  of  Vice- 
President,  a  station  of  high  dignity,  but  of  little  other 
than  contingent  power,  had  been  usually,  by  their  in- 
dulgence, conceded  to  a  citizen  of  the  other  section; 
but  even  this  political  courtesy  was  superseded  at  the 
election  before  the  last,  and  both  the  offices  of  President 
and  Vice-President  of  the  United  States  were,  by  the 
preponderancy  of  slaveholding  votes,  bestowed  upon 
citizens  of  two  adjoining  and  both  slaveholding  States. 
At  this  moment  the  President  of  the  United  States,  the 
President  of  the  Senate,  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of 
Representatives,  and  the  Chief  Justice  of  the  United 
States,  are  all  citizens  of  that  favored  portion  of  the 
united  republic." 

Thus,  from  the  beginning,  the  North,  while  socially, 
morally,  and  intellectually  the  superior  of  the  South, 
was  politically  the  weaker.  A  strong  feeling  of  sec- 
tional dislike  and  jealousy,  engendered  in  great  degree 


28  ORIGIJV  AND    SISTOftT    OF 

by  the  constant  rivalry  between  the  two  halves  of  the 
nation,  was  the  animus  that  moved  the  latter  in  its 
measures  of  State.  The  interests  of  the  free  and  slave - 
holding  communities  were  directly  antagonistic;  and 
whenever  they  clashed,  the  latter  was  invariably  the 
victor.  The  will  of  the  one  was  made  subservient  to 
that  of  the  other,  and  thus  was  the  majority  of  a  great 
nation  ruled  by  the  minority. 

The  acquisition  of  new  territory  on  a  basis  of  slavery, 
likewise  operated  as  a  powerful  auxiliary  in  building 
up  and  sustaining  the  power  of  the  South,  Louisiana 
was  purchased  from  the  French;  Alabama  and  Missis- 
sippi were  wrested  from  the  Indians;  and,  afterward, 
Arkansas  and  Florida,  thereby,  with  the  previous  ad- 
dition of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  greatly  increasing 
her  slave  population,  although  this  preponderance  was 
in  a  measure  counteracted  by  similar  annexations  of 
free  territory  at  the  North. 

In  1818  Missouri  having  attained  a  population  of 
40,000  inhabitants,  applied  for  admission  into  the 
Union,  having  sanctioned  slavery  in  its  Constitution, 
Twice  was  it  rejected  by  the  House  of  Eepresentatives, 
and  twice  the  bill  admitting  it,  with  its  adjunct  of 
slavery,  passed  the  Senate.  The  popular  excitement 
became  intense,  and  at  no  previous  period  of  our 
country's  history  had  the  Union  been  so  near  the 
verge  of  dissolution.  The  South  talked  violently  of 
disunion,  and  civil  war  seemedjnevitable.    It  was 

"  Eesolved,  That  the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia, 
will  support  the  good  people  of  Missouri,  in  their  just 
rights,  and  admission  into  the  Union,  and  will  co-ope- 
rate with  them  in  resisting  with  manly  fortitude 
any  attempt  which  Congress  may  make  to  impose  re- 
straints, or  restrictions  on  the  price  of  their  admission, 


AMERICAN    SLAVERY.  29 

not  authorized  by  the  great  principles  of  the  Consti- 
tution, and  in  violation  of  their  rights,  liberty,  and 
happiness!  " 

In  1820  Henry  Clay  proposed  its  admission  with  its 
Constitution  permitting  slavery,  but  with  the  famous 
agreement  known  as  the  Missouri  Compromise :  that 
henceforth  slavery  should  not  be  established  north  of 
the  parallel  of  36°  30'  north  latitude  to  the  east  and 
west  of  Missouri. 

This  proposition  was  at#  length  adopted,  the  South 
willingly  accepting  a  compromise,  which  secured  it  an 
immediate  gain  of  two  more  votes  in  the  Senate,  and 
a  desirable  market  for  its  surplus  slaves;  and  the  North 
consoling  itself  with  the  ignis  fatuus  hope  that  the 
matter  was  set  forever  at  rest,  and  the  vast  territories 
of  the  West  saved  to  liberty  in  the  future.  Accord- 
ingly, in  1821,  Missouri  become  a  slave  State  of  the 
confederation. 

Slavery  being  now  restricted  to  certain  limits,  an 
extreme  interest  attached  to  the  annexation  of  new 
States  to  the  South,  that  it  might  be  enabled  to  per- 
petuate its  predominate  influence  by  adding  to  its 
representation. 

The  North  meanwhile  was  not  idle.  A  jealous  ri- 
valry sprang  up  between  the  two  sections  as  to  which 
should  first  colonize  and  organize  new  States;  each 
seeking  first  to  become  the  tutor  and  future  guardian 
of  the  infant  candidate  for  territorial  honors. 

The  constantly  varying  fluctuations  of  public  feeling 
at  this  period  are  shown  by  the  following  excerpts.  The 
Augusta  Chronicle  (Georgia),  of  October,  1833,  says: 

"  We  firmly  believe,  that  if  the  Southern  States  do 
not  quickly  unite  and  declare  to  the  North,  if  the  ques- 
tion of  slavery  be  longer  discussed  in  any  shape,  they 


SO  OiilGIJV  c4*YD    HISTORY    OF 

will  instantly  secede  from  the  Union;  that  the  question 
must  be  settled,  and  very  soon,  by  the  sword,  as  the 
only  possible  means  of  self-preservation!  " 

"  Public  sentiment  at  the  North,  in  reference  to 
Southern  interests,  was  never  in  a  sounder  state  than  it 
is  now.  The  language  of  the  Northern  press  is  cheer- 
ing in  the  extreme;  he  feeling  in  favor  of  the  South, 
and  against  the  Abolitionists,  is  deep  and  almost  uni- 
versal."   Charleston  Courier,  2\st  of  July,  1834. 

South  Carolina  having  failed  in  her  scheme  of  nulli- 
fication, the  purchase  or  conquest  of  Mexico  next 
became  a  favorite  scheme  with  the  South.  Their  poli- 
ticians exultingly  declared  that  nine  slave  States,  as 
large  as  Kentucky,  could  be  formed  from  it;  and  many 
sanguine  planters  had  already  calculated  the  consequent 
rise  in  the  value  of  their  slaves. 

In  1836  an  insurrection  of  the  American  colonists  of 
Texas,  in  conjunction  with  a  feeble  minority  of  the 
inhabitants,  was  supported  by  an  army  sent  by  the 
United  States,  then  in  full  peace  with  Mexico.  The 
rebellion  was  speedily  put  down,  the  Mexican  army 
defeated,  and  the  United  States,  not  content  with  its 
victory,  generously  took  possession  of  the  conquered 
territory  under  pretext  of  protecting  it. 

In  1843  its  annexation  as  a  State  was  refused,  but 
not  without  violent  and  warm  discussion.  It  was  sub- 
sequently admitted  as  a  slave  State  in  1845. 

The  territory  of  New  Mexico  being  claimed  by  Texas, 
of  Mexico,  the  claim  was  disputed,  and  war  with  that 
country  was  immediately  proclaimed  by  Mr.  Polk,  the 
newly-elect  President.  The  Mexicans  made  a  deter- 
mined ret-istmce,  but  the  victorious  armies  of  the 
United  Slates  swept  the  fertile  valleys  of  that  feeble 
Republic,  from  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Grande  to  the 
western  base  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  devastating  its 


AMERICAN    SZaiVBSl.  Sf 

beautiful  provinces,  and  defeating  the  opposing  army 
with  overwhelming  slaughter.  The  war  terminated  in 
1847,  the  concession  of  California  and  New  Mexico  to 
the  United  States  being  among  its  results. 

A  new  difficulty  between  the  North  and  South,  arising 
from  a  dispute  in  regard  to  the  formula  known  as  the 
Wilmot  Proviso,  in  which  Congress  declared  that  the 
subsidies  necessary  to  the  operations  of  the  war  should 
be  granted  only  on  condition  of  the  prohibition  of 
slavery  in  the  conquered  territories,  having  previously 
distracted  the  country,  a  most  unhappy  state  of  affairs 
ensued.  The  Proviso  was  frequently  passed  by  the 
House  of  Eepresentatives,  but  the  Senate  rejected  it. 
On  the  occasion  of  the  treaty  with  Mexico  it  was  again 
considered  in  the  House,  the  new  territories  meanwhile 
being  left  provisionally  without  organization.  Com- 
plications and  dissensions  continued  to  increase.  The 
popular  excitement  reached  its  hight  in  1850,  when 
California  applied  for  admittance  as  a  free  State.  The 
South  resorted  to  its  well-worn  threat  of  separation, 
thinking  thereby  to  coerce  the  north  into  submission 
to  its  terms.  In  Congress  a  resolution  was  introduced 
by  the  Southern  delegates,  that  the  adoption  of  the 
measures,  then  pending,  would  be  considered  as  suf- 
ficient grounds  for  secession. 

Again  Mr.  Clay  applied  his  favorite  remedy  of  com- 
promise. California  was  admitted  without  slaves; 
New  Mexico  wa<*  detached  from  Texas,  the  latter  re- 
ceiving an  indemnity  of  $10,000,000;  the  terms  of  the 
Proviso  were  discarded,  and  the  right  of  organizing 
new  territories  was  given  over  exclusively  to  their 
citizens.  Thus  the  difficulty  was  temporarily  gotten 
rid  of,  only  to  be  again  revived  with  added  vexations. 
The  same  year  gave  birth  to  that  stupendous  outrage 


32  ORIGIN  AND    HISTORY    OF 

known  as  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  whose  provisions  au- 
thorized masters  to  pursue  and  capture  their  runaway 
slaves  in  the  free  States,  compelled  civil  officers  to  assist 
in  their  seizure  and  return  to  bondage,  and  imposed  a 
heavy  fine  upon  any  one  sheltering  the  fugitives  or 
conniving  at  their  escape. 

Thus  the  free  States  were  forcibly  transformed  into 
partners  and  accomplices  of  the  South;  and  their  citi- 
zens converted  into  creatures  at  the  service  of  every 
Southern  master,  whose  trembling  vassals  sought  the 
asylum  of  their  soil.  In  many  instances  citizens  of  the 
free  States  submitted  to  fine  and  imprisonment  rather 
than  comply  with  its  requirements;  and  their  refusal 
to  acquiesce  gracefully  in  its  unhallowed  provisions 
became  a  fresh  grievance  in  the  already  surcharged 
bosom  of  the  South. 

Not  content  with  having  made  the  North  an  unwill- 
ing partaker  in  its  legalized  shame,  the  South  insisted 
on  the  abolition  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  in  1854; 
and  that  magic  line,  so  long  the  charmed  boundary, 
separating  freedom  from  servitude,  accordingly  ceased 
to  exist,  and  the  territories  were  left  untrammeled  by 
its  presence  to  incorporate  slavery  in  their  Constitu- 
tion, or  powerless  to  resist  its  introduction. 

The  territories  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska  were  organ- 
ized in  1854;  and  later  Kansas  applied  for  admission 
as  a  State.  The  disgraceful  quarrels  and  contentions 
originating  from  and  following  this  request  are  still 
fresh  in  the  memory  of  all,  and  will  forever  remain  a 
stigma  upon  the  fair  fame  of  the  land.  At  the  called 
election  of  a  delegate,  in  November,  to  present  its  pe- 
tition in  Congress,  the  State  was  invaded  by  a  large 
body  of  armed  men  from  Missouri,  best  known  by  their 
distinctive  appellation  of  "Border  Ruffians"  who  drove 


AMERICAN    SLAVERY.  33 

away  the  citizens  from  the  polls,  and  by  their  own  votes 
elected  as  delegate  a  sworn  ally  of  the  South.  On  the 
following  March,  at  the  election  of  the  territorial  Legis- 
lature, the  State  was  again  overrun  by  a  horde  of  several 
thousand  mounted  men,  who  again  by  their  illegally 
cast  ballots  elected  a  Legislature  composed  exclusively 
of  the  partisans  of  slavery. 

Murders  were  committed  with  impunity;  newspaper 
offices  were  mobbed,  and  their  presses  destroyed  ;  the 
town  of  Lawrence  was  burned,  and  the  lives  and  prop- 
erty of  free  State  men  were  constantly  in  jeopardy. 
The  spurious  Legislature,  convened  at  Lecompton,  de- 
clared that  no  member  could  be  sworn  without  affirm- 
ing that  slavery  was  right;  and  decided,  that  to  main- 
tain the  contrary  involved  the  penalty  of  two  years' 
hard  labor;  that  to  give  shelter  to  a  fugitive  slave,  or 
to  print  or  circulate  any  writing  against  slavery,  was 
punishable  by  four  years'  imprisonment.  Death  was 
the  penalty  incurred  for  inciting  insurrection  among 
the  slaves,  or  for  aiding  in  their  escape  or  concealment; 
while  disfranchisement  followed  the  refusing  to  support 
the  Fugitive  Slave  Law. 

Thus  the  "virgin  territory"  seemed  hopelessly  given 
over  to  the  minions  of  the  slave  power.  The  sanctity 
of  the  ballot-box  was  again  violated  in  November, 
1855,  at  the  election  of  a  new  delegate  to  Congress. 
The  whole  country  was  aroused  to  a  pitch  of  fearful 
excitement.  The  waves  of  political  and  party  feeling 
ran  mountain-high,  and  sectional  strife  and  discord 
were  augmented  to  the  highest  degree.  In  the  Senate 
Chamber  Charles  Sumner  made  an  eloquent  appeal  in 
behalf  of  the  helpless  territory,  for  which,  two  days 
later,  he  was  attacked  in  his  seat,  and  beaten  with  a 
cane,  by  Congressman  Brooks,  of  South  Carolina,  who, 


SA  OTHGIW  *UY®    HISTORY     OF 

no  doubt,  felt  the  Senator's  masterly  arguments  un- 
answerable through  any  other  medium.  This  dastardly 
stroke  of  policy  met  with  the  utmost  enthusiasm 
throughout  the  South;  meetings  of  approval  were 
held,  and  a  handsome  cane  was  presented  to  the 
chivalrous  knight  who  had  shown  himself  so  well 
worthy  the  suggestive  present;  and,  to  the  shame  of 
the  Republic  be  it  said,  he  was  not  expelled  from  Congress. 

On  the  other  hand,  a  corresponding  degree  of  indig- 
nation was  manifested  at  the  North.  Even  at  the 
South  there  were  a  few  who  dared  to  disapprove  the 
deed,  and  a  beautiful  lady  of  South  Carolina  gave  ut- 
terance to  the  sentiment  which,  for  the  sake  of  the 
early  Revolutionary  heroes  of  that  State,  deserves  to 
become  historical:  "South  Carolina  presents  her  heroes 
with  swords,  and  her  cowards  with  canes." 

Matters  in  Kansas  continued  to  grow  worse.  Mur- 
derers and  outlaws  were  suffered  to  go  unpunished,  and 
the  whole  country  seemed  on  the  eve  of  a  violent  out- 
break. Every  possible  expedient  was  resorted  to  by 
the  South  to  strengthen  the  hands  of  the  pro-slavery 
party  in  the  West.  In  1856  the  Governor  of  South 
Carolina  promulgated  in  his  official  message  the  secret 
hope  that  fired  the  Southern  heart,  a  proposition  after- 
ward reiterated  by  Alabama: 

"  To  maintain  our  position  we  must  have  cheap  labor. 
This  is  only  possible  through  one  means — the  reopening 
of  the  slave  trade;  and  nothing  but  a  mawkish  senti- 
mentality would  swoon  at  the  idea  of  legalizing  this 
trade." 

In  1858  troops  were  sent  to  Kansas,  by  the  President, 
to  protect  the  ballot-box;  and  a  new  Legislature  was 
elected,  who  proceeded  to  frame  another  Constitution. 
The  great  question  of  slavery  was  still  undecided,  the 


a.UjEHica^y  slavery.  .?s 

elections  being  alternately  against  and  in  its  favor. 
When  the  former,  the  election  was  annulled  by  the 
withdrawal  of  the  inspectors;  when  the  latter,  the 
people  vehemently  protested  against  it.  Through  two 
entire  sessions  of  Congress  the  matter  was  dragged, 
and  even  then  did  not  receive  a  satisfactory  adjust- 
ment. Congress  advocated  the  amendment  of  its  ter- 
ritorial Constitution  before  its  admission  as  a  State; 
and  the  President  advised  its  immediate  admittance, 
leaving  to  its  citizens  the  construction  of  a  new  Con- 
stitution. 

An  expedient  known  as  the  English  Compromise  was 
adopted,  by  which,  on  a  slight  pretext,  hinged  on  the 
quantity  of  school-lands  demanded  by  the  territory,  its 
admission  was  deferred  until  the  people  should  declare 
their  willingness  to  accept  lesser  grants,  a  proposition 
decidedly  rejected  by  the  people  in  a  new  election,  and 
a  new  Constitution  therefore  became  necessary,  which 
Congress,  in  conformity  with  the  principle  of  non-inter- 
vention known  as  the  Nebraska  Bill,  reserved  to  itself 
the  right  of  approving,  without  interfering  in  the  ques- 
tion of  slavery.  It  was  further  provided  and  reiterated 
in  the  President's  message  of  1859,  that  every  citizen 
of  the  United  States  had  a  right  to  transport  his  prop- 
erty of  every  kind,  including  slaves,  into  the  territories, 
and  to  be  protected  therein  by  the  Constitution.  Mr. 
Buchanan  thus  expresses  his  satisfaction  at  the  result: 

11  It  is  a  striking  proof  of  the  sense  of  justice  which 
is  inherent  in  our  people,  that  the  property  of  slaves 
has  never  been  disturbed  in  any  of  the  territories. 
Had  any  such  attempt  been  made,  the  judiciary  would 
doubtless  have  afforded  an  adequate  remedy.  Should 
they  fail  to  do  this  hereafter,  it  will  then  be  time 
enough  to  strengthen  their  hands  by  further  legis- 
lation." 


36  ORIGIN  oiJVD    HISTORY    OF 

A  new  difficulty  was  subsequently  opened  by  the 
President  himself.  It  being  a  matter  of  doubt  that 
the  population  of  the  territory  amounted  to  93,420, 
the  requisite  number  to  entitle  them  to  a  representa- 
tive, a  new  census  was  required.  As  many  of  its  orig- 
inal citizens,  by  the  early  struggles  and  disturbances 
of  the  infant  territory,  had  been  intimidated  to  quit 
the  country,  the  census  would  doubtless  have  resulted 
in  a  further  postponement.  Thus,  from  both  the  Ex- 
ecutive and  Congress,  measures  had  originated  calcu- 
lated to  produce  a  delay  in  its  admission.  To  the 
fearless  spirit  and  admirable  patience  of  its  long- 
suffering  people,  is  to  be  awarded  the  merit  of  the  fact 
that  Kansas  to-day  is  a  free  and  sovereign  State;  it 
having  been  triumphantly  admitted  as  such  in  1861. 

Disgraceful  as  were  such  recriminations,  they  would 
have  doubtless  wrought  comparatively  little  harm  had 
it  not  been  for  the  presence  of  a  third  party,  crushed 
"  between  the  upper  and  nether  millstones,"  whose 
humanity  and  claim  to  Christian  recognition  were 
utterly  ignored,  and  whose  very  existence  was  tacitly 
unacknowledged,  save  for  purposes  of  legislative  op- 
pression. Let  us  learn  from  the  code  noir  of  the  South 
the  position  and  status  of  this  silent,  irresponsible  ele- 
ment of  the  national  confusion. 

"  A  slave  is  one  who  is  in  the  power  of  his  master, 
to  whom  he  belongs.  The  master  may  sell  him,  dis- 
pose of  his  person,  his  industry,  or  his  labor;  he  can 
do  nothing,  possess  nothing,  nor  acquire  anything  but 
what  must  belong  to  his  master."  Laws  of  Louisiana. 
"None  shall  be  slaves  except  those  who  are  so 
when  this  chapter  takes  effect,  such  free  negroes  as 
may  be  sold  as  slaves  pursuant  to  law,  such  slaves 
as  may  be  lawfully  brought  into  the  State,  and  the 
future  descendants  §f  female  slavesP  Laws  of 
Virginia. 


AMERICAN    SLATER  2.  37 

"  Children  born  of  a  mother  then  in  a  state  of  slavery, 
whether  married  or  not,  follow  the  condition  of  their 
mother;  they  are  consequently  slaves,  and  belong  to 
the  master  of  their  mother."   Laws  of  Virginia. 

"All  their  issue  and  offspring  born,  or  to  be  born, 
shall  be,  and  are  hereby  declared  to  be  and  remain 
forever  hereafter  absolute  slaves,  and  shall  follow 
the  condition  of  their  mother." 

"  Slaves  shall  be  deemed,  taken,  reputed  and  ad- 
judged to  be  chattels  personal  in  the  hands  of  their 
masters  and  possessors,  to  all  intents  and  purposes 
whatsoever." 

"  The  slave  is  entirely  subject  to  the  will  of  the 
master,  who  may  correct  and  chastise  him,  though  not 
with  unusual  rigor,  nor  so  as  to  maim  or  mutilate  him, 
or  to  expose  him  to  the  danger  of  loss  of  life,  or  to  cause 
his  death." 

"A  slave  may  be  whipped,  cropped,  or  branded  on  the 
cheek  with  the  letter  R,  or  otherwise  punished,  not  ex- 
tending to  life,  nor  so  as  to  unfit  him  for  labor.''' 

"In  case  any  person  shall  willfully  cut  out  the 
tongue,  put  out  the  eye,  cruelly  scald,  burn,  or  deprive 
any  slave  of  any  limb,  or  member,  or  shall  inflict  any 
other  cruel  punishment — [otherwise  than  by  whipping,  or 
beating,  with  a  horsewhip,  cowskin,  switch,  or  small  stick, 
or  by  putting  irons  on,  or  confining,  or  imprisoning  such 
slave] — every  such  person  shall,  for  every  such  offense, 
forfeit  the  sum  of  one  hundred  pounds,  current  money." 

"Slaves  can  not  marry  without  the  consent  of 
their  masters,  and  their  marriages  do  not  produce 
any  of  the  civil  effects  which  result  from  such 
contract? 

"  If  any  person  shall  hereafter  be  guilty  of  willfully 
and  maliciously  killing  a  slave,  such  offender  shall, 
upon  the  first  conviction  thereof,  be  adjudged  guilty  of 
murder,  and  shall  suffer  the  same  punishment  as  if  he 
had  killed  a  free  man. 

"Provided  always,  this  act  shall  not  extend  to  the 
person  killing  a  slave  outlawed  by  virtue  of  any  act 
of  assembly  of  this  State,  or  to  any  slave  in  the  act 


SS  ORIGIN  AJVD    HISTORY    OF 

of  resistance  to  his  lawful  owner  or  master,  or  to 
any  slave  dying  tinder  moderate  correction." 

"  If  any  slave,  who  shall  be  out  of  the  house  or 
plantation  where  such  slaves  shall  live,  or  shall  be 
usually  employed,  or  without  some  white  person  in 
company  with  such  slaves,  shall  refuse  to  submit  to  un- 
dergo the  examination  of  any  white  person,  it  shall  be 
lawful  for  any  white  person  to  pursue,  apprehend,  and 
moderately  correct  such  slave;  and  if  such  slave  shall 
assault  and  strike  such  white  person,  such  slave  may 

be  LAWFULLY  KILLED." 

"  The  slave  is  incapable  of  exercising  any  public 
office,  or  private  trust;  he  can  not  be  a  witness  in  either 
civil  or  criminal  matters." 

"  Trial  by  jury  is  utterly  denied  to  the  slave,  even  in 
criminal  accusations  which  may  affect  his  life.11 

"The  slave  is  not  allowed  to  resist  any  white  man 
under  any  circumstances" 

"If  any  slave  shall  presume  to  strike  any  white  man, 
such  slave,  upon  trial  and  conviction  before  the  jus- 
tice, shall,  for  the  first  offense,  suffer  such  punishment 
as  said  justice  thinks  fit,  not  extending  to  life  or  limb; 
and  for  the  second  offense,  death." 

aA  slave  stood  by  and  saw  his  wife  whipped  as 
long  as  he  co"ld  possibly  endure  the  sight;  lie  then 
called  out  to  the  overseer,  who  was  applying  the  lash, 
that  he  would  kill  him  if  he  did  not  use  more  mercy. 
This  probably  made  matters  worse;  at  all  events  the 
lashing  continued.  The  husband  goaded  to  frenzy, 
rushed  upon  the  overseer,  and  stabbed  him  three  times. 
White  men,  what  would  you  do  if  the  laws  admitted 
that  your  wives  might  die  of  moderate  correction,  admin- 
istered by  your  employers?  The  overseer  died,  and 
his  murderer  was  burned.1" 

"  If  any  negro,  mulatto,  or  Indian,  bond  ov  free,  shall 
at  any  time  lift  his  or  her  hand,  in  opposition  to 
any  person  not  colored,  they  shall — the  offense  being 
proved  beforfc  a  justice  of  the  peace — receive  thirty 
lashes  on  his  or  her  bare  back,  well  laid  on." 

"  Any  person  finding  more  than  seven  slaves  together 


AMERICAN    SLAVERY*  39 

in  the  highway  without  a  white  person,  may  give  each 
one  twenty  lashes." 

In  the  Maryland  House  of  Delegates,  in  1834,  Mr. 
Mann  moved  an  inquiry  into  the  expediency  of  abol- 
ishing slavery,  after  a  certain  period.  So  great  was  the 
excitement  produced  by  this  motion,  that  the  mover 
withdrew  it,  and  the  minute  of  the  motion  was  expunged 
from  the  journal. 

In  South  Carolina,  if  a  slave  be  killed  "  on  a  sudden 
heat  or  passion,  or  by  undue  correction"  the  murderer 
is  to  pay  a  fine  and  be  imprisoned  six  months. 

The  law  of  Louisiana  stipulates  that  a  slave  shall 
have  one  linen  shirt — usually  made  of  a  kind  of  coarse 
bagging — and  a  pair  of  pantaloons  for  the  summer, 
and  one  linen  shirt  and  a  woolen  great-coat  and  panta- 
loons for  the  winter;  and  for  food,  one  pint  of  salt,  and 
a  barrel  of  Indian  corn  rice,  or  beans  every  month. 
In  North  Carolina,  the  law  decides  that  a  quart  of  corn 
per  day  is  sufficient. 

"  '  Whereas,  teaching  slaves  to  read  and  write  has  a  ten- 
dency to  excite  dissatisfaction  in  their  minds,  and  to  pro- 
duce insurrection  and  rebellion,'  therefore  it  is  enacted 
that  teaching  a  slave  to  read  or  write,  or  giving  or 
selling  to  a  slave  any  book  or  pamphlet,  shall  be  pun- 
ished with  thirty-nine  lashes,  if  the  offender  be  a  free 
black,  or  with  imprisonment  at  the  discretion  of  the 
court;  if  a  slave,  the  offense  is  punishable  with  thirty- 
nine  lashes,  on  his  or  her  bare  back,  on  conviction 
before  a  justice  of  the  peace." 

In  Georgia  any  slave,  or  free  person  of  color,  is  for 
a  similar  offense,  fined  or  whipped,  or  fined  and 
whipped,  at  the  discretion  of  the  court. 

In  Louisiana  twelve  months'  imprisonment  is  the 
penalty  for  teaching  a  slave  to  read  or  write. 

"  And  if  any  person  shall  use  any  language  from  the 


10  ORIGIN  *JV&  HISTORY    OF 

bar,  bench,  stage,  pulpit,  or  any  other  place,  or  hold  any 
conversation  having  a  tendency  to  promote  discontent 
among  free  colored  people,  or  insubordination  among 
slaves,  he  may  be  imprisoned  at  hard  labor,  not  less 
than  three  nor  more  than  twenty-one  years;  or  he 
may  suffer  death,  at  the  discretion  of  the  court." 

"  In  Mississippi  a  white  man,  who  prints  or  circu- 
lates doctrines,  sentiments,  advice,  or  innuendoes, 
likely  to  produce  discontent  among  the  colored  class, 
is  fined  from  one  hundred  to  a  thousand  dollars,  and 
imprisoned  from  three  to  twelve  months." 

"  In  Virginia  white  persons  who  teach  any  colored 
person  to  read  or  write,  are  fined  not  exceeding  fifty 
dollars;  for  teaching  slaves  for  pay,  from  ten  to  twenty 
dollars  for  each  offense." 

"  In  Georgia  if  a  white  teach  a  free  negro  or  slave 
to  read  or  write,  he  is  fined  $500,  and  imprisoned  at 
the  discretion  of  the  court;  if  the  offender  be  a  colored 
man,  bond  or  free,  he  is  to  be  fined  or  whipped  at  the 
discretion  of  the  court." 

"  Any  person  that  teaches  a  person  of  color,  slave 
or  free,  to  read  or  write,  or  causes  such  persons  to 
be  so  taught,  is  subjected  to  a  fine  of  thirty  dollars 
for  each  offense;  and  every  person  of  color  who  shall 
teach  reading  or  writing,  is  subject  to  a  fine  of  thirty 
dollars,  or  to  be  imprisoned  ten  days  and  whipped 
thirty-nine  lashes." 

"  The  North  Carolina  law  declares,  that  the  Alphabet 
has  a  tendency  to  excite  dissatisfaction;  and  if  a  white 
person  teach  a  slave  to  read  or  write,  or  give  or  sell 
him  any  books,  Bible  not  excepted,  he  is  fined  from 
one  to  two  hundred  dollars." 

"  In  Kentucky  white  men  are  condemned  to  death 
for  four  crimes  only;  slaves  meet  a  similar  punishment 
for  eleven  crimes." 

"  Any  justice  of  the  peace  may,  at  his  discretion, 
break  up  any  religious  assembly  of  slaves,  and  may 
order  each  slave  present  to  be  '  corrected  without  trial, 
by  receiving  on  the  bare  back,  twenty-five  stripes  with 
a  whip,  switch  or  cow-skin.'  " 

"  Slaves  may  not  meet  together  for  the  purpose  of 


AMERICAN   SLAVE  ft  T.  if 

'religious  worship'  before  sunrise  or  after  sunset,  un- 
less the  majority  of  the  meeting  be  composed  of  white 
persons,  under  a  penalty  of  twenty  lashes  well  laid  on." 

In  Mississippi  if  a  master  allow  his  slave  to  culti- 
vate cotton  for  his  own  use,  he  incurs  a  fine  of  fifty 
dollars;  and  if  he  license  his  slave  to  trade  on  his 
own  account,  he  forfeits  fifty  dollars  for  each  and  every 
offense.  Any  person  trading  with  a  slave  forfeits  four 
times  the  value  of  the  articles  purchased;  and  if  unable 
to  pay,  he  receives  thirty-nine  lashes,  ancUpays  the  costs. 

"  If  a  slave  visit  another  plantation  without  leave 
in  writing  from  his  master,  the  owner  of  the  planta- 
tion may  give  him  ten  lashes." 

"  All  horses,  cattle,  hogs,  or  sheep,  that  shall  belong 
to  any  slave,  or  be  of  any  slave's  mark  in  this  State, 
shall  be  seized  and  sold  by  the  County  Wardens." 

"  Slavery  was  not  confined  to  color.  Mr.  Paxton,  a 
Virginia  writer,  declared,  that,  '  the  best  blood  in 
Virginia  flows  in  the  veins  of  the  slaves.'  In  the 
description  given  of  a  fugitive  slave,  in  the  public 
papers,  it  was  stated,  l  He  has  sometimes  been  mis- 
taken for  a  white  man.'  " 

"A  case  of  a  slave,  suing  for  his  freedom,  was  tried 
a  few  days  since  in  Lincoln  County,  of  which  the  fol- 
lowing is  a  brief  statement  of  the  particulars.  A  youth 
of  about  ten  years  of  age  sued  for  his  freedom  on  the 
ground  that  he  was  a  free  white  person.  The  court 
granted  his  petition  to  sue  as  a  pauper  upon  inspection 
of  his  person.  Upon  his  trial  before  the  jury  he  was 
examined  by  the  jury  and  by  two  learned  physicians, 
all  of  whom  concurred  in  the  opinion  that  very  little 
if  any  trace  of  negro  blood  could  be  discovered  by  any 
of  the  external  appearances.  All  the  physiological 
marks  of  distinctions  which  characterize  the  African 
descent  had  disappeared. 

"  His  skin  was  fair,  his  hair  soft,  straight,  fine  and 
white,  his  eyes  blue,  but  rather  disposed  to  be  hazle- 
nut  color;  nose  prominent,  the  lips  small  and  com- 
4 


6*  ORIGIN  AJV¥)    HISTORY    OF 

pletely  covering  the  teeth,  his  head  round  and  well 
formed,  forehead  high  and  prominent,  the  ears  large, 
the  tibia  of  the  leg  straight,  the  feet  hollow.  Notwith- 
standing these  evidences  of  his  claims,  he  was  proven 
to  be  a  descendant  of  a  mulatto  woman,  and  that  his 
progenitors  on  his  mothers  side  had  been  and  still 
were  slaves ;  consequently  he  was  found  to  be  a  slave.'* 

The  laws  of  South  Carolina  and  Virginia  expressly 
recognize  Indian  slaves. 

Governor  Miller,  of  South  Carolina,  in  his  message 

* 

to  the  Legislature  in  1829,  remarks: 

"Slavery  is  not  a  national  evil;  on  the  contrary,  it 
is  a  national  benefit.  Slavery  exists  in  some  form 
every  where,  and  it  is  not  of  much  consequence  in  a 
'philosophical  point  of  view,  whether  it  be  voluntary  or 
involuntary.  In  a  political  point  of  view,  involuntary 
slavery  has  the  advantage,  since  all  who  enjoy  polit- 
ical liberty  are  then  in  fact  free." 

"  In  Missouri  it  is  death  to  prepare  or  administer 
medicine  without  the  master's  consent,  unless  it  can 
be  proved  that  there  was  no  evil  intention." 

;'  In  Georgia  a  fine  of  thirty  dollars  a  week  is  im- 
posed upon  any  master  who  allows  his  slave  to  hire 
himself  out  for  his  own  benefit." 

"The  following  is  the  testimony  of  Jefferson,  who 
had  good  opportunities  for  observation,  and  who  cer- 
tainly had  no  New  England  prejudices:  '  There  must, 
doubtless,  be  an  unhappy  influence  on  the  manners  of 
the  people,  produced  by  the  existence  of  slavery  among 
us.  The  whole  commerce  between  master  and  slave  is 
a  perpetual  exercise  of  the  most  boisterous  passions ; 
the  most  unremitting  despotism  on  the  one  part,  ana 
degrading  submission  on  the  other.  Our  children  see 
this  and  learn  to  imitate  it;  for  man  is  an  imitative 
animal.  The  parent  storms;  the  child  looks  on, 
catches  the  lineaments  of  wrath,  puts  on  the  same  airs 
ir.  a  circle  of  smaller  slaves,  gives  loose  to  the  worst  of 
passions;  and  thus  nursed,  educated,  and  daily  exer- 


AMERICAN    SZAVESr.  4.S 

cised  in  tyranny,  can  not  but  be  stamped  by  it  with 
odious  peculiarities.  The  man  must  be  a  prodigy,  who 
can  retain  his  morals  and  manners  undepraved  in  such 
circumstances.'  " 

A  correspondent  of  the  Charleston  (S.  C.)  Observer 
remarked : 

"Let  us  establish  missionaries  among  our  own  ne- 
groes, who,  in  view  of  religious  knowledge,  are  as 
debasely  ignorant  as  any  one  on  the  coast  of  Africa; 
for  I  hazard  the  assertion,  that  throughout  the  bounds 
of  our  synod,  there  are  at  least  one  hundred  thou- 
sand slaves,  speaking  the  same  language  as  ourselves, 
who  never  heard  of  the  plan  of  salvation  by  a  Re- 
deemer." 

The  editor,  instead  of  contradicting  this  broad  asser- 
tion, adds: 

"  We  fully  concur  with  what  our  correspondent  hag 
said  respecting  the  benighted  heathen  among  our- 
selves." 

General  Charles  C.  Pinckney,  of  South  Carolina,  in  a 
public  address,  delivered  in  1824,  maintained  that 
slavery  as  it  existed  in  that  State  is — 

"  No  greater  or  more  unusual  evil,  than  befalls  the 
poor  in  general;  that  its  extinction  would  be  attended 
with  calamity  to  the  country,  and  to  the  people  con- 
nected with  it,  in  every  character,  and  relation;  that 
no  necessity  exists  for  such  extinction — that  slavery  is 
sanctioned  by  the  Mosaic  dispensation — that  it  is  a 
fulfillment  of  the  denunciation  pronounced  against  the 
second  son  of  Noah — that  it  is  not  inconsistent  with 
cue  genius  and  spirit  of  Clyistianity,  nor  considered 
by  St.  Paul  as  a  moral  evil." — Address  before  the  Agri- 
cultural Society  of  South  Carolina. 

On  the  5th  of  December,  1833,  a  committee  of  the 
Synod  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  to  whom  was 
referred  the  subject  of  the  religious  instruction  of  the 


44  OSlGIJV  AJ\^    HISTORY    OF 

colored   population,   made  a   report  which   has    been 
published,  and  in  which  this  language  is  used. 

"  Who  would  credit  it,  that  in  these  years  of  revival 
and  benevolent  effort,  in  this  Christian  republic,  there 
are  over  two  millions  of  human  beings  in  the  con- 
dition of  heathen,  and  in  some  respect  in  a  worse 
condition.  From  long  continued  and  close  observa- 
tion, we  believe  that  their  moral  and  religious  con- 
dition is  such  that  they  may  justly  be  considered  the 
heathen  of  this  Christian  country,  and  will  bear  com- 
parison with  heathen  in  any  country  in  the  world. 
The  negroes  are  destitute  of  the  Gospel,  and  ever 
will  be  under  the  present  state  of  things.  In  the  vast  field 
extending  from  an  entire  State  beyond  the  Potomac, 
to  the  Sabine  -River,  and  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Ohio, 
there  are  to  the  best  of  our  knowledge  not  twelve  men 
exclusively  devoted  to  the  religious  instruction  of  the 
negroes.  In  the  present  state  of  feeling  in  the  South, 
a  ministry  of  their  own  color  could  neither  be  obtained 

NOR  TOLERATED. 

"  Generally  speaking  they  (the  slaves)  appear  to  us 
to  be  without  God  and  without  hope  in  the  world,  a 
nation  of  heathen  in  our  very  midst.  We  cannot 
cry  out  against  the  Papists  for  withholding  the  Scrip- 
tures from  the  common  people,  and  keeping  them  in 
ignorance  of  the  way  of  life;  for  we  withhold  the  Bible 
from  our  servants,  and  keep  them  in  ignorance  of  it, 
while  we  will  not  use  the  means  to  have  it  read  and 
explained  to  them.  The  cry  of  our  perishing  servants 
comes  up  to  us  from  the  sultry  plains  as  they  bend  at 
their  toil — it  comes  up  to  us  from  their  humble  cot- 
tages when  they  return  at  evening  to  rest  their  weary 
limbs — it  comes  up  to  us  from  the  midst  of  their 
ignorance  and  superstition,  and  adultery  and  lewdness. 
We  have  manifested  no  emotions  of  horror  at  abandon- 
ing the  souls  of  our  servants  to  the  adversary,  the 
roaring  lion  that  walketh  about  seeking  whom  he  may 
devour. 

"  In  Eome  the  introduction  of  Christianity  abolished 
slavery;  the  ictea  of  exclusive  property  in  our  fellow- 


AMERICAN   SLAVERY.  4.5 

men  was  too  obviously  at  variance  with  its  holy  pre- 
cepts; and  its  professors,  in  the  sincerity  of  their 
hearts,  made  a  formal  surrender  of  such  claims.  In 
various  ancient  instruments  of  emancipation,  the 
masters  begin  by  declaring,  that  '  for  the  love  of  God 
and  Jesus  Christ,  for  the  easing  of  their  consciences, 
and  the  safety  of  their  souls,'  they  set  their  bondmen 
free." 

Nor  were  the  slaves  alone  in  this  merciless  proscrip- 
tion. "  Free  persons  of  color"  all  over  the  United 
States  seem  to  have  been  regarded  with  a  mixture  of 
prejudice  and  distrust  entirely  unwarranted  in  the 
premises;  and  the  legislative  measures  were  taken  to 
render  them  helpless  and  incapable  of  harm. 

The  Maryland  Legislature,  in  their  session  of  1831, 
adopted  the  following  resolution: 

"  .Resolved,  That  the  increased  proportion  of  the  free 
people  of  color,  in  this  State,  to  the  white  population — 
the  evils  growing  out  of  their  connection  and  unrestrained 
association  with  the  slaves,  their  habits  and,  manner  of 
obtaining  a  subsistence,  and  their  withdrawing  a  large 
portion  of  employment  from  the  laboring  class  of  the 
white  population,  are  subjects  of  momentous  and  grave 
consideration  to  the  good  people  of  this  State." 

tl  In  Georgia,  a  white  man  is  liable  to  a  fine  of  five 
hundred  dollars  for  teaching  a  free  negro  to  read  or 
write.  If  one  free  negro  teach  another,  he  is  to  be 
fined  and  whipped  at  the  discretion  of  the  court !  Should 
a  free  negro  presume  to  preach  to,  or  exhort  his  com- 
panions, he  may  be  seized  without  warrant,  and 
whipped  thirty-nine  lashes,  and  the  same  number  of 
lashes  may  be  applied  to  each  one  of  his  congrega- 
tion." 

"  In  South  Carolina,  any  assembly  of  free  negroes, 
even  in  the  presence  of  white  persons,  '  in  a  confined 
or  secret  place,  for  the  purpose  of  mental  instruction,1 
is  an  unlawful  assembly,  and  may  be  dispersed  by  a 


IS  ORIGIN    AJVD    HISTORY    OF1 

magistrate,  who  is  authorized  to  inflict  twenty  lashes 
on  each  free  negro  attending  the  meeting." 

"  The  corporation  of  Georgetown,  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  passed  an  ordinance,  making  it  penal  for 
any  free  negro  to  receive  from  the  post- office,  have  in  his 
possession,  or  circulate,  any  publication  or  writing 
whatsoever  of  a  seditious  character." 

"  In  Virginia,  should  free  negroes  or  their  children 
assemble  at  a  school  to  learn  reading  and  writing,  any 
justice  of  the  peace  may  dismiss  the  school  with 
twenty  stripes  on  the  back  of  each  pupil." 

"  For  publishing,  or  circulating,  in  the  State  ol 
North  Carolina,  any  pamphlet  or  paper  having  an 
evident  tendency  to  excite  slaves,  or  free  persons  of 
color,  to  insurrection  or  resistance,  imprisonment  not 
less  than  one  year,  and  standing  in  the  pillory,  and 
whipping,  at  the  discretion  of  the  court,  for  the  first 
offense;  and  death  for  the  second." 

"  In  North  Carolina  the  law  prohibits  a  free  colored 
man,  whatever  may  be  his  attainments  or  ecclesiastical 
authority,  to  preach  the  gospel." 

"  In  Louisiana  the  penalty  for  instructing  a  free 
black  in  a  Sunday-school,  is,  for  the  first  offense,  five 
hundred  dollars;  for  the  second  offense,  death  !  !" 

The  law  of  Louisiana  gravely  declares: 

"  Free  persons  of  color  ought  never  to  insult  or 
strike  white  people,  nor  presume  to  conceive  them- 
selves equal  to  the  whites;  but,  on  the  contrary,  they 
ought  to  yield  to  them  on  every  occasion,  and  never 
speak  or  answer  them  but  with  respect,  under  the 
penalty  of  imprisonment,  according  to  the  nature  of 
the  offense." 

"  By  a  late  law  of  Maryland,  a  free  negro  coming 
into  the  State  is  liable  to  a  fine  of  fifty  dollars  for 
every  week  he  remains  in  it.  If  he  can  not  pay  the 
fine,  he  is  sold." 

"  A  free  colored  man,  living  near  the  line  of  the 
District  of  Columbia,  petitioned  the  Maryland  House 
of  Delegates  for  leave  to  bring  his  grandchild  from  the 


AMJSHlCAJV    SLAVERY.  4.7 

city  of  Washington.  The  child  had  probably  been 
left  an  orphan,  and  he  naturally  wished  to  take  it  into 
his  own  house.     The  petition  was  rejected!!" 

"In  Maryland  a  justice  of  the  peace  may  order  a 
free  negro's  ears  to  be  cut  off  for  striking  a  white 
man." 

"  Henceforth  no  slave  or  slaves  can  be  manumitted 
except  under  the  express  condition  that,  when  the  said 
slaves  shall  have  been  manumitted,  they  shall  be  transported 
out  of  the  United  States." 

"A  manumitted  negro  becomes  again  a  slave  if  he 
remains  twelve  months  in  the  State." 

"  All  slaves  for  years  now  found  in  the  State,  as 
soon  as  they  shall  become  free,  shall  be  transporled  out 
of  the  State  at  the  expense  of  the  last  owner." 

"  In  Tennessee  slaves  are  not  allowed  to  be  eman- 
cipated unless  they  leave  the  State  forthwith.  Any 
free  colored  person  emigrating  into  this  State  is  fined 
from  ten  to  fifty  dollars,  and  hard  labor  in  the  peni- 
tentiary from  one  to  two  years." 

"  Any  attempt  to  free  a  slave,  in  any  other  manner 
than  the  prescribed  form,  is  punished  by  a  fine  of  two 
hundred  dollars  for  each  offense  ;  and  the  slave  or 
slaves  are  still,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  in  a  state 
of  slavery." 

"  In  Mississippi  every  negro  or  mulatto,  not  being 
able  to  prove  himself  free,  may  be  sold  as  a  slave." 

"If  any  omission  is  made  in  the  forms  of  emanci- 
pation established  by  law,  any  person  whatsoever  may 
seize  the  negro  so  manumitted,  and  appropriate  him 
to  his  own  use." 

"  If  a  free  colored  person  remain  in  "Virginia  twelve 
months  after  his  manumission,  he  can  be  sold  by  the 
overseers  of  the  poor  for  the  benefit  of  the  literary 
fund!" 

"  In  Georgia  a  free  colored  man,  except  a  regular 
articled  seaman,  is  fined  one  hundred  dollars  for  com- 
ing into  the  State;  and,  if  he  can  not  pay  it,  may  be 
sold  at  public  outcry." 

"No  person  may,  under  the  penalty  of  five  dollars, 
buy  of  a  free  negro  '  any  bacon,  pork,  beef,  mutton, 


18  ORIGIN  AJV1>    HISTORY    OF 

corn,  wheat,  tobacco,  rye,  or  oats,'  unless  he  shall  at 
the  time  exhibit  a  certificate  from  a  justice  of  the 
peace,  or  three  respectable  persons,  that  he  or  they 
believe  the  said  negro  came  honestly  by  the  identical 
article  offered  for  sale." 

"  We  all  know  from  a  variety  of  considerations 
which  it  is  unnecessary  to  name,  and  in  consequence 
of  the  policy  which  is  obliged  to  be  pursued  in  the 
Southern  States,  that  it  fs  extremely  difficult  to  free  a 
slave;  and  hence  the  enactment  of  those  laws  which  a 
fatal  necessity  seems  to  demand."     Af.  Rep.  II.  p.  12. 

"We  all  know  that  the  Southerners  have  a  high 
sense  of  what  the  world  calls  honor,  and  that  they  are 
brave,  hospitable  and  generous  to  people  of  their  own 
color;  but  the  more  we  respect  their  virtues,  the  more 
cause  is  there  to  lament  the  demoralizing  system  which 
produces  such  unhappy  effects  on  all  who  come  within 
its  baneful  influence.  Most  of  them  may  be  as  kind  as 
can  be  expected  of  human  nature,  endowed  with  al- 
most unlimited  power  to  do  wrong;  and  some  of  them 
may  be  even  more  benevolent  than  the  warmest  friend 
of  the  negro  would  dare  to  hope;  but  while  we  admit 
all  this,  we  must  not  forget  that  there  is  in  every  com- 
munity a  class  of  men  who  will  not  be  any  better  than 
the  laws  compel  them  to  be."     Mrs.  Child. 

Nor  can  it  be  denied  that  the  condition  of  "  free  per- 
sons of  color  "  was  at  one  time  comparatively  little 
better  at  the  North.  In  Hartford,  Connecticut,  a  Miss 
Crandall  was  tried,  on  the  23d  of  August,  1828,  for  the 
crime  of  having  established  a  school  for  the  purpose  of 
educating  colored  youth,  and  from  a  Northern  writer 
we  adduce  this  astonishing  argument  which,  ridiculous 
as  it  may  appear,  was  the  creed  of  many  worthy  per- 
sons, even  occasional  theologians  disputing  the  fact 
that  the  negro  was  a  human  being: 

"  The  negro's  lips  are  thick — his  zygomatic  muscles 
large   and   full — his    jaws   large   and    projecting — his 


AMERICAN    SLAVERY.  19 

chin  retreating — his  forehead  low,  flat  and  slanting, 
and,  as  a  consequence  of  this  latter  character,  his  eye- 
balls are  very  prominent,  apparently  larger  than  those 
of  white  men.  All  of  these  peculiarities  at  the  same 
time  contributing  to  reduce  his  facial  angle  almost  to 
a  level  with  the  brute.  If,  then,  it  is  consistent  with 
science  to  believe  that  the  mind  will  be  great  in  pro- 
portion to  the  size  and  figure  of  the  brain,  it  is  equally 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  acknowledged  mean- 
ness of  the  negro's  intellect  only  coincides  with  the 
shape  of  his  head ;  or,  in  other  word«,  that  his  want  of 
capability  to  receive  a  complicated  education  renders  it 
improper  and  impolitic  that  he  should  be  allowed  the 
privileges  of  citizenship  in  an  enlightened  country." 

And  lastly,  the  verdict  of  the  North  upon  the  legal- 
ized crimes  of  the  South — the  judicial  summing  up  of 
all  these  legislative  villainies — "  A  negro  has  no  rights  a 
white  man  is  bound  to  respect!11 

The  slave  faction,  disappointed  in  their  designs  upon 
the  new  territories  of  the  West,  now  turned  avaricious 
eyes  toward  Mexico,  and  the  tempting  morsel  of  Cuba, 
lying  so  conveniently  near.  To  quote  from  Mr.  Bu- 
chanan's message,  of  1859: 

"The  island  of  Cuba,  from  its  geographical  position, 
commands  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  and  the  im- 
mense and  annually  increasing  trade,  foreign  and 
c'oastwise,  from  the  valley  of  that  noble  river,  now 
embracing  half  the  sovereign  States  of  the  Union. 
With  that  island  under  the  dominion  of  a  distant  for- 
eign power,  this  trade,  of  vital  importance  to  these 
States,  is  exposed  to  the  danger  of  being  destroyed  in 
time  of  war,  and  it  has  hitherto  been  subjected  to  per- 
petual injury  and  annoyance  in  time  of  peace.  Our 
relations  with  Spain,  which  ought  to  be  of  the  most 
friendly  character,  must  always  be  placed  in  jeopardy, 
while  the  existing  colonial  government  over  the  island 
shall  remain  in  its  present  position. 

"  Whilst  the   possession  of    the  island  would  be  of 

5 


50  ORIGIN   ?1A~2)    HISTORY    OF 

vast   importance   to   the   United    States,   its   value  to 
Spain  is,  comparatively,  unimportant." 

And  again: 

"Cuba  is  almost  within  sight  of  our  shores.  Our 
commerce  with  it  is  far  greater  than  that  of  any  other 
nation,  including  Spain  itself,  and  our  citizens  are  in 
the  habit  of  daily  and  extended  personal  intercourse 
with  every  part  of  the  island." 

But  his  most  admirable  stroke  of  diplomacy  lies  in 
the  following: 

"  It  is  the  only  spot  in  the  civilized  world  where  the 
African  slave  trade  is  tolerated,  and  we  are  bound  by 
treaty  with  Great  Britain  to  maintain  a  naval  force  on 
the  coast  of  Africa,  at  much  expense  both  of  life  and 
treasure,  solely  for  the  purpose  of  arresting  slavers 
bound  to  that  isle.  .  .  .  ... 

"  As  long  as  this  market  shall  remain  open,  there 
can  be  no  hope  for  the  civilization  of  benighted  Africa. 
Whilst  the  demand  for  slaves  continues  in  Cuba,  wars 
will  be  waged  among  the  petty  and  barbarous  chiefs 
in  Africa,  for  the  purpose  of  seizing  subjects  to  supply 
this  trade.  In  such  a  condition  of  affairs,  it  is  impos- 
sible that  the  light  of  civilization  and  religion  can  ever 
penetrate  these  dark  abodes." 

Again,  what  can  equal  this 'touching  and  pious  ap- 
peal? 

"But  we  are  obliged,  a?  a  Christian  and  moral 
nation,  to  consider  what  would  be  the  effect  upon  un- 
happy Africa  itself,  if  we  should  reopen  the  slave 
trade.  This  would  givo  the  trade  an  impulse  and  ex- 
tension which  it  never  had  even  in  its  palmiest  days. 
The  numerous  victims  required  to  supply  it  would 
convert  the  whole  slave  coast  into  a  perfect  Pandemo- 
nium, for  which  this  country  would  be  held  responsi- 
ble in  the  eyes  both  of  God  and  man.  Its  petty  tribes 
would  then  be  constantly  engaged  in  predatory  wars 
against  each  other,  for  the  purpose  of  seizing  slaves  to 


supply  the  American  market.      All  hope  of  African 
civilization  would  then  be  ended. 

"On  the  other  hand,  when  a  market  for  African 
slaves  shall  be  no  longer  furnished  in  Cuba,  and  thus 
all  the  world  be  closed  against  this  trade,  we  may  then 
indulge  a  reasonable  hope  for  the  gradual  improve- 
ment of  Africa.  The  chief  motive  of  war  among  the 
tribes  will  cease  whenever  there  is  no  longer  anv  de- 
mand  for  slaves.  The  resources  of  that  fertile  but 
miserable  country  might  then  be  developed  by  the 
hand  of  industry,  and  afford  subjects  for  legitimate 
foreign  and  domestic  commerce.  In  this  manner, 
Christianity  and  civilization  may  gradually  penetrate 
the  existing  gloom." 

Such  is  the  specious  reasoning  under  which  the 
spokesman  of  the  slave  power  vails  his  plot  for  the 
annexation  of  a  new  slave  State.  Well  may  the  French 
satirist  exclaim: 

"It  is  through  interest  for  Africa  that  America 
wishes  to  despoil  Spain;  it  is  through  aversion  to  the 
slave  trade  that  the  South  burns  to  annex  one  slave 
State  more!  " 

But  what  says  Spain,  the  uneonsulted  owner  of  the 
property  in  question?  On  being  interrogated  by  the 
House  of  Representatives,  her  minister  returns  the 
indignant  reply: 

"  The  government  is  disposed  to  demand  the  satis- 
faction due  such  an  insult, that  it  decidedly 

rejects  propositions  so  dishonorable,  and  that,  if  need 
be,  it  will  oppose,  even  by  force,  the  dismemberment  of 
the  smallest  portion  of  the  Spanish  territory. 

And  again,  he  declares  to  the  Senate: 

"If  any  representative  of  a  foreign  power  had  at- 
tempted to  make  me  an  offer  for  the  alienation  of 
Cuba,  I  should  have  interrupted  him  at  the  first  word, 
to  tell  him  the  effect  that  such  insinuations  would  pro- 
duce on  the  mind  of  Spaniards.     The  preservation  of 


52  OKIGZJV  AJTD    HISTORY    OT 

the  island  of  Cuba  is  not  to  vis  a  question  of  interest 
or  convenience,  but  of  dignity  and  honor  ;  all  the  in- 
terest that  might  result  from  it,,  all  the  gold  that 
might  be  heaped  up  from  it,  would  not  suffice  to 
persuade  Spain  to  make  the  sacrifice  of  this  glorious 
relic  of  the  precious  discoveries  and  surprising  and 
magnificent  conquests  of  our  sires.  The  alienation  of 
Cuba!  Such  an  insane  thought  could  only  enter  the 
minds  of  those  who  know  nothing  of  Spain,  and  have 
never  penetrated  her  inmost  thoughts.*' 

Cuba,  therefore,  not  being-  immediately  available, 
Mexico  next  excited  the  cupidity  of  the  Govern ment, 
and  its  docile  instrument  thus  skillfully  manipulates 
the  delicate  subject  in  his  annual  messag-es: 

u  The  wrongs  which  we  have  suffered  from  Mexico 
are  before  the  world,  and  must  deeply  impress  every 
American  citizen.  A  government  which  is  either  un- 
able or  unwilling  to  redress  such  wrongs  is  derelict  to 
its  highest  duties.  The  difficulty  consists  in  selecting- 
and  enforcing  the  remedy.  We  may  in  vain  apply  to 
the  constitutional  government  at  Yera  Cruz,  although 
it  is  well  disposed  to  do  us  justice,  fbr  adequate  redress. 
"Whilst  its  authority  is  recognized  in  all  the  important 
ports  and  throughout  the  sea-coasts  of  the  Republic, 
its  power  does  not  extend  to  the  city  of  Mexico  and 
the  States  in  the  vicinity,  where  nearly  all  the  recent 
outrages  have  been  committed  on  American  citizens. 
We  must  penetrate  into  the  interior  before  we  can  reach 
the  offenders,  and  this  can  only  be  done  by  passing 
through  the  territory  in  the  occupation  of  the  consti- 
tutional government.  The  most  acceptable  and  least 
difficult  mode  of  accomplishing  the  object  will  be  to 
act  in  concert  with  that  government.  Their  consent 
and  their  aid  might,  I  believe,  be  obtained;  but  if  not, 
our  obligation  to  protect  our  own  citizens  in  their  just 
rights,  secured  by  treaty,  would  not  be  the  less  imper- 
ative. For  these  reasons,  I  recommend  to  Congress  to 
pass  a  law  authorizing  the  President,  under  such  con- 
ditions as  they  may  deem  expedient,  to  employ  a  suffi- 


AMERICAN    SZsiYUm.  53 

cient  military  force  to  enter  Mexico  for  the  purpose  of 
obtaining  indemnity  for  the  past,  and  security  for  the 
future, 

'*  But  for  this  expectation,  I  should  at  once  have 
recommended  to  Congress  to  grant  the  necessary 
power  to  the  President  to  take  possession  of  a  suf- 
ficient part  of  the  remote  and  unsettled  territory  of 
Mexico,  to  hold  in  pledge,  until  our  injuries  shall  be 
redressed  and  our  just  demands  satisfied. 

"I  can  imagine  no  possible  remedy  for  these  evils 

but  for  the  government  of  the  United  States 

to  assume  a  temporary  protectorate  over  the  northern 
portions  of  Chihuahua  and  Sonora,  and  to  establish 
military  posts  within  the  same.  This  protection  might 
be  withdrawn  as  soon  as  local  governments  shall  be 
established  in  these  Mexican  States,  capable  of  per- 
forming their  duties  toward  the  United  States" 

Such  was  the  policy  of  the  American  government 
in  1358-59,  already  sufficiently  shown  in  the  semi-offi- 
cial recognition  of  u  Filibuster  "  Walker  in  Nicaragua. 
Clearly  the  gigantic  scheme  of  the  South  included  in 
its  chateau  de  espagne  the  five  little  republics  of  Cen- 
tral America,  and  extended  to  the  natural  bridge  of 
Panama.  In  reference  to  some  existing  difficulties 
with  those  powers,  the  President  says: 

11  Unless  this  demand  shall  be  complied  with  at  an 
early  day,  it  will  only  remain  for  this  government 
then  to  adopt  such  other  measures  as  may  be  neces- 
sary, in  order  to  obtain  for  itself  the  justice  which  it 
has  in  vain  attempted  to  secure  through  peaceful 
means." 

But  the  Southern  mind  was  suddenly  and  rudely 
awakened  from  its  luxurious  dreams  of  conquest  and 
empire  by  the  reckless  raid  of  John  Brown  upon  the 
Arsenal  at  Harper's  Ferry.  From  contemplating  the 
usurpation  of  Mexico,  the  annexation  of  Cuba,  and  the 
seizure  of  Central  America,  the  bewildered  Utopiaus 


51  ORIGVV  tiJfD    HISTORY    OF 

awoke  to  a  realizing  sense  of  the  uncertain  tenure  of 
their  own  domestic  institutions;  and  the  wildest  ter- 
rorism took  possession  of  the  South. 

This  Arsenal  was  the  property  of  the  United  States 
government,  and  guarded  by  United  States  soldiers 
John  Brown  and  his  band  remained  two  days  in  the 
Arsenal,  taking  nothing  but  guns,  the  property  of  the 
United  States.  He  was  captured  by  United  States' 
troops,  a  company  of  ninety-three  marines,  sent  from 
Washington  by  request  of  the  Governor  of  Virginia,  the 
three  companies  of  volunteers  raised  and  armed  for 
the  undertaking  having  proven  unequal  to  the  task  of 
capturing  his  one  hundred  negroes;  yet  he  was  sur- 
rendered to  the  insane  state  of  Virginia  for  trial  and 
execution. 

The  whole  community  was  in  a  state  of  the  most  cow- 
ardly and  disgraceful  panic.  Absurd  and  impossible  ru- 
mors were  implicitly  believed  by  the  terror-stricken 
inhabitants,  and  a  general  uprising  of  the  slaves  was 
anticipated  at  Eichmond.  Travelers  were  arrested  for 
uttering  the  slightest  words  of  sympathy  in  favor  of 
the  brave  but  mistaken  Brown.  Large  bodies  of  vol- 
unteers were  raised,  who  drilled  untiringly  and  pa- 
troled  nightly.  The  universal  excitement  and  indig- 
nation extended  to  the  extreme  Southern  States,  and 
in  Savannah,  Georgia,  a  respectable  merchant  was 
tarred  and  feathered  for  expressing  pity  for  the  un- 
fortunate old  man  who  bore  on  his  person  six  wounds, 
and  in  his  memory  four  murdered  sons — two  of  them 
slain  by  his  side;  the  others,  the  early  victims  of  the 
Kansas  outlaws.  But  Brown  had  strangely  miscalcu- 
lated the  nature  of  the  negro.  He  believed  the  slaves 
would  flock  to  his  standard  and  welcome  him  as  their 
deliverer,  but  years  of  toil  and  abuse  and  ignorance  and 


AMERICAN    SZAYEKT.  65 

degradation  had  brought  their  legitimate  results.  If 
dreams  of  liberty  had  ever  haunted  them,  they  had  not 
learned  that  u  to  be  free,  themselvc  s  must  strike  the 
blow;"  and  they  looked  on  in  apathetic  wonder,  their 
dull  minds  scarcely  able  to  comprehend  the  import  of 
the  movement.  The  North  stood  coldly  aloof  in  in- 
difference or  disapproval,  and  Brown  was  abandoned 
to  his  fate.  The  proceedings  of  his  trial  were  marked 
b}^  the  most  needless  haste,  and  the  utmost  caution 
was  observed  in  guarding  the  prisoner  lest  he  should 
be  rescued.  Indeed,  the  entire  ceremony  was  a  mere 
farce,  and  his  sentence  a  foregone  conclusion.  Before 
the  opening -of  tne  trial  Governor  Wise  had  written  to 
the  Ex-Mayor  of  New  York: 

" Brown  will  certainly  be  hung,  and  his  body  will 
be  given  to  the  surgeons  to  be  carried  beyond  the 
boundaries  of  the  State,  so  that  the  carcass  shall  not 
pollute  the  soil  of  Virginia." 

On  the  2d  of  December,  1859,  Brown  was  hung;  not 

a  murmur  of  pain  or  regret  or  anger  having  passed  his 

lips,  and  thus  ignobly  perished  the  unselfish  originator 

of  a  wild  scheme  of  liberation  that  wanted  only  success 
to  have  been  sublime! 

In  18G0  an  important  decision  was  rendered  by  the 

Court  of  Appeals  at  Albany,  which  tended  still  further 

to  exasperate  the  South.     We  subjoin  a  history  of  the 

case  furnished  by  a  citizen  of  New  York  to  a  foreign 

journal.      By  this  it  will   be  seen  that   freedom  was 

guanteed  to  every  slave,  not  a  fugitive,  on  his  landing 

on  free  soil : 

"In  November,  1852,  a  citizen  of  Virginia,  Jonathan 
Lemmon,  arrived  at  New  York  on  board  a  Norfolk 
steamer,  with  his  wife  and  eight  young  slaves,  whom 
he  was  carrying  to  Texas,  where  he  designed  to  settle. 
While  waiting  till  he  should  be  ready  to  start  for  his 


56  OXIGIJV  AJV&    HISTORY    OF 

place  of  destination,  he  placed  the  negroes  in  an  ob- 
scure boarding-house.  A  free  colored  man  discovered 
them  there,  and  obtained  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  to 
bring  the  eight  slaves  before  a  judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court. 

"  Great  agitation  prevailed  in  New  York.  The 
Democrats  claimed  that  an  inhabitant  of  the  South 
possessed  the  right  of  transit  through  the  Free  States 
with  everything  that  was  considered  property  by  the 
laws  of  the  State  where  he  resided.  The  Abolitionists, 
and  the  various  shades  which  have  since  formed  the 
Republican  party,  maintained,  on  the  contrary,  that  a 
negro  was  free  from  the  moment  that  he  touched  the 
soil  of  a  Free  State,  unless  he  had  fled  from  the  State 
where  he  was  held  in  slavery. 

"  Judge  Paine  wasof  the  latter  opinion  ;  he  declared, 
by  a  long  and  elaborate  decision,  that  slaves  could 
under  no  pretext  be  introduced  into  the  State  of  New 
York,  and  ordered  the  eight  slaves  summoned  before 
him  to  be  immediately  set  at  liberty. 

"  This  verdict  produced  a  profound  sensation  in  the 
Southern  States.  The  Abolitionists  of  New  York 
speedily  raised  a  subscription  of  $300  or  $400  to  send 
the  freed  slaves  to  Canada.  On  their  side,  some  mer- 
chants who  had  business  relations  with  the  South 
collected  5,000  piasters  by  voluntary  contributions  to 
indemnify  Mr.  Lemraon  for  the  loss  which  he  had 
sustained. 

"  Fully  satisfied  with  the  pecuniary  reparation,  the 
Virginian  turned  his  face  toward  his  State,  thinking 
no  more  of  either  Texas  or  his  slaves;  but  the  Southern 
planters  and  politicians  viewed  the  matter  from  a 
higher  stand-point.  The  Governor  of  Georgia  took  it 
up  in  his  message,  of  1855. 

"'If  it  be  true,'  said  he,  'that  the  citizens  of  the 
Slave  States,  who,  by  force  of  circumstances,  or  for 
their  convenience,  seek  passage  through  a  Free  State, 
accompanied  by  their  slaves,  are  by  this  fact  alone 
dispossessed  of  their  property;  if  it  be  true  that  these 
slaves  are  thus  emancipated,  it  is  time  that  we  knew 
the  reasons  of  such  an  assertion.      The  repetition  of 


AMERICAN    SLAVERY.  57 

such  acts  of  violence  would  be  a  legitimate  cause  of  war 
with  the  State  which  should  originate  or  suffer  then.' 

"  The  Governor  of  Virginia  was  still  more  explicit, 
and  demanded  of  his  legislature  to  interfere,  to  appeal, 
in  the  name  of  the  State,  from  the  decision  of  Judge 
Paine  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  JSTew  York. 

"  On  December  12,  1857,  the  matter  was  brought 
before  this  court,  which  confirmed  the  decision  of 
enfranchisement.  The  State  of  Virginia  appealed 
anew  to  the  Court  of  Appeal  at  Albany,  and  two  years 
passed  before  the  case  was  tried  and  a  final  decision 
rendered. 

"  The  slavery  interests  were  sustained  with  great 
talent  by  Charles  O'Conor;  William  Evarts  was  the 
no  less  eloquent  defender  of  the  Republican  cause. 
The  latter  won  a  complete  triumph,  and  the  decision 
rendered  has  dispelled  all  uncertainty  in  like  matters. 
It  declares  that  the  laws  of  the  State  of  New  York 
neither  protect  nor  tolerate  within  its  limits  property 
consisting  in  slaves,  and  cites  in  particular  a  statute  of 
1817,  which,  combined  with  the  Federal  Constitution, 
gives  freedom  to  everyone,  not  a  fugitive,  on  touching 
the  soil  of  a  Free  State." 

Matters  now  became  serious.  The  South  for  once 
was  seemingly  in  earnest  in  her  cries  of  disunion,  and 
uttered  no  meaningless  threats.  The  sympathetic  Mr. 
Buchanan,  at  the  head  of  the  too-easily  intimidated 
Democratic  party,  transferred  the  whole  load  of  re- 
sponsibility upon  the  shoulders  of  the  long-suffering 
North,  who  in  sooth  had  been  so  long  the  unresisting 
scapegoat  of  the  whole  body  of  political  sins,  that  this 
undeserved  addition  to  its  burden  occasioned  no  un- 
easiness. Mark  the  petulant  tone  of  the  President's 
last  message  to  Congress,  the  cold-blooded  effusion  of 
a  man  who  had  not  warmth  enough  in  his  bachelor 
heart  to  love  a  woman,  least  of  all,  his  country! 

"Why  is  it  that  discontent  now  so  extensively  pre- 


5$  ORIGIN  AND    HISTORY    OF 

vails,  and  that  the  Union  of  the  States  is  threatened 
with  destruction?  The  long-continued  and  intem- 
perate interference  of  the  Northern  people  with  the 
question  of  slavery  in  the  Southern  States  has  at  length 

produced  its  natural  effects The  incessant  and 

violent  agitation  of  the  slavery  question  throughout 
the  North  for  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  has  at 
length  produced  its  malign  influence  on  the  minds  of 
the  slaves,  and  inspired  them  with  vague  notions  of 
freedom.  Hence  a  sense  of  security  no  longer  exists 
around  the  family  altar.  Many  a  matron  throughout 
the  South  retires  to  rest  in  dread  of  what  may  befall 

herself  and  her  children  before  morning The 

agitation  has  been  continued  by  the  public  press,  by 
the  proceedings  of  State  and  county  conventions,  ser- 
mons, lectures,  pamphlets,  books  etc.  All  for  which 
the  Slave  States  have  ever  contended  is  to  be  let  alone, 
and  permitted  to  manage  their  domestic  institutions  in 
their  own  way." 

But  Mr.  Buchanan's  term  of  office  was  now  drawing 
to  a  close,  and  he  having  obviously  failed  of  the  one 
primary  object  of  his  administration,  viz:  a  renomi- 
nation,  the  press  was  actively  engaged  in  canvassing 
the  respective  merits  and  chances  of  his  several  pos- 
sible successors. 

The  Governor  of  Virginia,  in  his  inaugural  message, 
protested  in  advance  against  the  election  of  a  North- 
ern President,  and  exclaimed: 

"  The  idea  of  suffering  such  a  man  to  have  in  his 
hands  the  army  and  navy  of  the  United  States,  and 
the  appointment  of  the  highest  functionaries,  can  not 
for  a  single  instant  be  endured  by  the  South." 

As  before  stated,  the  South  had  invaribly  been  suc- 
cessful in  its  choice  of  President.  Diverse  parties  in 
the  North  had  hitherto  distracted  the  public  mind  and 
rendered  it  impossible  for  all  to  agree  upon  any  one 
aspirant. 


zlMEftlCAW    SLAVERY.  59 

Yet  the  North,  with  its  two  million  votes  against  a 
single  million,  possessed  the  power  of  at  any  time 
exalting  a  candidate  of  its  own  choosing  to  the  presi- 
dential chair,  but  as  before  said  this  certainty  had 
heretofore  been  balked  by  its  utter  inability  to  agree 
upon  a  common  platform  and  candidate,  a  large  pro- 
portion of  its  citizens  invaribly  voting  with  the  South. 

This  difficulty  at  length  appeared  to  be  in  a  measure 
surmounted  by  the  formation  of  a  new  party,  whose 
political  creed  was  equally  removed  from  the  violence 
of  Southern  agitators  and  the  fanaticism  of  Northern 
abolitionists.  Justice  tempered  with  moderation,  strict 
impartiality  and  mildness  commingled  with  firmness, 
were  its  distinguishing  characteristics,  embodied  in 
the  person  of  its  representative — Abraham  Lincoln. 

The  canvass  was  one  of  unusual  interest  and  excite- 
ment. The  threadbare  threat  of  disunion,  if  defeated, 
was  extensively  promulgated  on  the  part  of  the  South- 
ern States.  Indeed,  Governor  Wise  of  Virginia  had 
freely  foreshadowed  the  views  of  his  State  in  his  mes- 
sage, of  February,  1860: 

"  Is  there  not  imminent  danger  of  disunion,  and  are 
not  the  minds  of  the  people,  both  in  the  North  and 
South,  deeply  agitated  by  the  fear  that  the  days  of  the 
Union  are  numbered?  Speeches  in  favor  of  disunion 
are  the  order  of  the  day  in  deliberate  bodies,  and 
the  press  is  full  of  editorials,  letters,  and  quotations  on 
the  subject.  The  legislators  of  the  South  are  occupied 
in  seeking  the  best  means  of  protecting  the  honor  and 
rights  of  their  States,  and  are  taking  measures  for 
arming  and  disciplining  the  militia,  with  the  sole  end 
to  defend  and  protect  themselves,  either  in  or  out  of 
the  Union.  Every  one  sees  and  feels  the  danger  that 
threatens  us;  ev^ry  one  regards  disunion,  not  only  as 
a  possible,  but  a  highly  probable  event,  and  at  a  not 
very  distant  day." 


GO  ORIGIN  siJYft  MIS  roar   OF 

Opposed  to  the  nominee  of  the  republican  party 
were  three  candidates,  representing  almost  impercept- 
ible shades  of  difference  in  the  slave  faction,  and  any 
one  of  whom  would  have  made  an  acceptable  guardian 
of  the  slave  interest  at  home  or  abroad. 

Without  entering  into  an  analysis  of  the  causes  that 
operated  in  their  threefold  defeat,  it  is  enough  to  say 
that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  the  chosen  President  at 
the  November  election  in  1860.  On  the  following  20th 
of  December,  the  State  of  South  Carolina  put  into 
execution  its  life-long  threat  of  disunion,  and  four 
days  later  its  Governor  issued  proclamation  as  follows: 

"  His  Excellency,  Francis  W.  Pickens,  Governor  and 
Commander-in-Chief  of  the  State  of  South  Caro- 
lina. 

"  While  waiting  until  the  brave  people  of  this  State 
assembled  in  Convention,  by  an  ordinance  unanimously 
adopted  and  ratified  on  the  twentieth  day  of  December, 
in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1860,  have  abrogated  an  ordi- 
nance of  the  people  of  this  State,  adopted  on  the 
twentieth  day  of  Ma}7-,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1788, 
and  have  thus  dissolved  the  Union  between  the  State 
of  South  Carolina  and  the  other  States  known  as  the 
"United  States  of  America,  I,  as  Governor  an'd  Com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  State  of  South  Carolina,  by 
virtue  of  the  authority  with  which  I  am  invested,  do 
proclaim  by  these  presents  ia  the  face  of  the  world 
that  this  State  is  rightfully  a  separate  State,  sovereign, 
free  and  independent,  and  as  such  has  a  right  to  make 
war,  to  conclude  peace,  to  negotiate  treaties,  alliances, 
or  agreements,  and  to  do  all  acts  whatsoever  belonging 
legitimately  to  a  free  and  independent  State. 

"Given  under  my  hand,  and  the  seal  of  this  State, 
at  Charleston,  on  the  twenty  fourth  day  of  December, 
in  the  year  of  our  Lord  I860,  and  the  eighty-fifth  year 
of  the  independence  of  South  Carolina. 

"F.  W.  PCKENS." 


AMERICA JV    SLAVERY.  <?/ 

At  this  critical  juncture  of  affairs,   Governor  Crit- 
tenden, of  Kentucky,  appeared  upon  the  scene,   and 
tendered  the  oft-tried  remedy  of  compromise  to  heal 
the  fast  widening  breach.     The  famous   propositions 
proposed  by  him  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States 
provided  that  thenceforth  slavery,  or  involuntary  ser- 
vitude, except  for    crime,   should  be  prohibited  in  all 
the   territories   of  the   United    States   lying  north  of 
latitude    thirty-six    degrees    and    tnirty   minutes;   that 
slavery  should  not  be  interfered  with  by  Congress  in 
any  of  the  territories  south  of  that  latitude:  and  that 
when  the  territories  north  of  that  line  were  entitled 
to  admission  as  States  of  that  Union,  the  question  of 
slavery  should  be  disposed  of  as  their  respective  in- 
habitants  should  determine.     They  further  provided 
that  Congress  should  have  no  right  to  abolish  slavery 
in  the  District  of  Columbia;  they  maintained  the  right 
of  transit  of  slaves  through  the  free  States;  and,  finally, 
required  that  the  States  iu  which  fugitive  slaves  had 
been  rescued  from  their  masters  should  pay  their  full 
value  to  their  alleged  owners.     But  the  day  of  compro- 
mise had  passed.     South  Carolina  was  ftiirly  launched 
upon  her  absurd  career,  and  a  convention  was  called 
of  all  the  slaveholding  States,  whose  duty  it  should  be 
to  adopt  a  constitution  for  the  government  of  a  South- 
ern Confederacy. 

The  six  States  of  Mississippi,  Alabama,  Florida, 
Georgia,  Louisiana,  and  Texas,  hastily  followed  the 
ungraceful  exit  of  South  Carolina.  Maryland  hesi- 
tated, then  stood  firm;  but  not  without  casting  many 
longing  glances  after  the  retreating  forms  of  her  slave- 
enamored  sisters;  Virginia  was  divided  against  herself. 
ISo  longer  the  Virginia  of  old,  the  mother  of  presi- 
dents and  the  cradle  of  heroes,  but  the  Virginia,  whose 


62  OftlGIJV  AND    HIS  TOUT    OF 

whole  existence  was  warped  by  discord,  and  com- 
plaints, and  threats  of  separation  between  her  Eastern 
and  Western  portions.  In  these  the  antagonistic  ex- 
periment of  free  and  slave  labor  had  been  fairly 
elaborated  side  by  side,  to  the  manifest  disfavor  of  the 
latter,  and  at  last  each  found  its  own  peculiar  level 
and  stood,  the  one  on  the  side  of  freedom,  the  other 
among  the  enemies  of  the  government  of  Washington. 

Missouri,  trembling  with  her  own  importance,  at- 
tached herself  as  a  dead  weight  to  the  tail  of  the 
Confederate  kite,  and  oscillated  for  the  next  four  years 
between  good  and  evil. 

Kentucky  and  Tennessee  long  quivered  in  the  bal- 
ance, but  the  gallant  sons  of  the  former  were  never 
found  wanting  in  honor  and  allegiance  to  the  flag  they 
helped  to  consecrate.  Though  her  fields  were  filled 
with  the  poisoned  blossoms  of  that  root  of  bitterness, 
slavery,  yet  the  pulsations  of  her  great  heart  evolved 
no  truant  blood.  The  latter  followed  close  on  the 
lumbering  heels  of  Arkansas,  though  the  strong  arms 
of  many  of  her  children  were  outstretched  to  oppose 
her  suicidal  course.  North  Carolina,  who  had  well 
weighed  the  matter,  reluctantly  brought  up  the  rear 
of  the  stampeding  squad,  and  thus  arose  upon  the 
astonished  e}Tes  of  the  nations,  the  historical  mon- 
strosity, born  in  infamy  and  now  dead  in  ignominy, — 
the  "  Confederate  States  of  North  America." 

Such  is  the  beginning  of  the  chapter:  the  first  page 
of  the  bloodiest  record  in  the  book  of  nations. 

The  North,  true  to  her  servile  instincts,  held  public 
meetings  in  her  principal  cities,  and  passed  concilia- 
tory resolutions,  setting  forth  her  own  hatred  of  abo- 
litionists and  fanatics  of  every  description,  deprecating 


siM&fticAJv  slavery,  es 

secession,  and  most  earnestly  beseeching  the  South  to 
discriminate  between  those  fanatics  and  the  mass  of 
conservative  people  of  the  North,  and  dwelling  in  the 
most  affecting  terms  upon  the  high  estimation  which 
the  latter  placed  upon  the  good  will  and  intelligence 
of  the  slave  States.  But  these  well-meant  demonstra- 
tions excited  merely  contempt,  for  the  South,  with  all 
her  terrible  crimes  and  her  still  more  terrible  mistakes, 
had  never  yet  been  guilty  of  the  sins  of  meanness  and 
hypocrisy.  Those  political  vices,  as  has  been  shown, 
were  peculiarly  Northern.  Meanwhile  the  Southern 
Confederacy  had  become  a  fixed  fact;  its  officers  had 
been  chosen  and  inaugurated;  warlike  preparations 
were  progressing,  and  the  Rebel  Republic  proceeded 
gravely  to  the  transaction  of  weighty  business,  as 
though  it  were  already  a  nation.  But  the  new  govern- 
ment, based  on  a  false  foundation,  and  resting  on  the 
unsound  doctrines  of  negro  inferiority,  carried  in  its 
own  bosom  the  elements  of  self-destruction. 

Alexander  H.  Stephens,  Vice-President  of  the  new 
experiment,  in  a  speech  at  Savannah,  Georgia,  March 
21st,  1861,  asserted  that  the  Southern  Republic  was 
founded  upon  the  principle  that  u  the  negro  is  not 
equal  to  the  white  man  ;  that  slavery,  subordination 
to  the  superior  race,  is  his  natural  and  normal  con- 
dition;" and  exultingly  exclaimed  that  the  new  nation 
was  "  the  first  in  the  history  of  the  world  based  on 
that  great  physical,  philosophical  and  moral  truths!" 
He  declared  that  the  most  valuable  ingredient  in  the 
Southern  constitution  was  its  final  and  admirable  ad- 
justment of  the  subject  of  slavery.  He  further  asserted 
that  the  founders  of  the  Federal  government  were 
grossly  mistaken  in  the  expressed  opinion  that  slavery 
was  a  violation  of  the  laws  of   nature.     Their  views 


6&.  011IGIJV  siJVD    HIS  TOR?    OF 

were  short-sighted,  false  and  erroneous;  slavery  was 
not  a  violation  of  the  laws  of  nature;  neither  was  it 
wrong  socially,  morally,  nor  politically:  and  the  Vice- 
President  proved  himself  a  false  prophet  by  affirming 
that  it  was  not  destined  to  be  evanescent  and  event- 
ually pass  away. 

On  the  4th  of  March,  1861,  the  President  elect  of  the 
United  States  was  peacefully  inaugurated;  a  single 
extract  from  his  opening  address  gives  its  thema,  and 
foreshadows  the  intended  temperate  policy  of  the  forth- 
coming administration  in  regard  to  the  peculiar  insti- 
tution: 

"I  have  no  design  for  interfering,  either  directly  or 
indirectly,  with  the  institution  of  slavery  in  the  States 
where  it  exists.  I  believe  that  I  have  no  right,  and  I 
feel  no  wish,  to  do  so." 

The  policy  thus  proclaimed  was  rigidly  adhered  to. 
The  Federal  government  looked  upon  the  unnatural 
orgies  of  the  apostate  States  with  a  strange  mixture  of 
wonder  and  apprehension,  but  raised  not  a  finger  to 
obstruct  their  exit.  It  was  not  until  the  Confederate 
government  had  amply  completed  its  preparations  for 
offense  and  defense  and  assumed  a  belligerent  attitude, 
with  an  army  of  well  drilled  men,  armed  from  the 
national  forts  and  arsenals  which  had  been  ruthlessly 
seized  in  the  very  beginning  of  secession,  that  the 
Federal  government  asserted  its  independence.  Only 
when  Fort  Sumpter  fell  beneath  the  fire  of  the  rebel  bat- 
teries, and  the  flames  of  war  were  enkindled  through- 
out the  land,  did  the  Chief  Executive  of  the  nation 
take  up  the  gauntlet  so  defiantly  flung  down.  Imme- 
diately after  the  fall  of  Sumpter,  on  April  13th,  1861, 
President  Lincoln  issued  a  proclamation,  calling  for 
seventy-five  thousand  troops  to  suppress  the  rebellion, 


tf..JfJ?Kl&4jY    SLA  >'ET?  1. 

and  summoning  Congress   to   meet   in   extraordinary 
session  on  the  4th  of  July  following. 

In  reviewing  the   history  of  the  slaveholder's  re- 
bellion, the  most  casual  observer  can  not  but  be  forcibly 
impressed  with  the  singular  delicacy  and  forbearance 
which,  throughout  the  progress  of  the  war,  character- 
ized the  action  of  the  Federal  government  in  regard  to 
the  institution  of  slavery.     It  was  not  a  war  against 
slavery,  but  a  war  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union. 
Yet  the  usages  of  warfare  would   have  justified  the 
employment  of  all  lawful  agencies  that  would  contrib- 
ute  to   the   accomplishment  of  that   result.     Slavery 
was  the  soul  of  the  rebellion,  the  moving  spirit  of  the 
bristling  tabernacle,  and,  if  destroyed,  the  Confederacy 
would  perforce  have  died  with  it;  but  with  a  strange 
favoritism  the  government  at  first  not  only  refrained 
from  attacking  this,  the   most  vulnerable  point,   but 
shielded  and  strengthened  its  weak  places  with  a  zeal 
and  efficiency  unsurpassed  by  its  warmest  supporters 
in  the  South.     Like  an  unskillful  surgeon  the  govern- 
ment directed  its  energies   to   allay  the  troublesome 
symptoms  of  secession,  while   the  disease  itself,   un- 
touched and  carefully  nourished,  was  daily  increasing 
in  force  and  rigor.     As  the  Northern  armies  penetrated 
southward,  the  slaves  who  flocked   in  hundreds  from 
the  adjoining  plantations,  thinking  to  find  at  last  be- 
neath the  starry  flag  the  freedom  of  which  they  dared 
to  dream,  were  by  the  United  States'  officers  politely 
and  obsequiously  delivered  up  to  their  irate  owners, 
who  were  granted  every  facility  for  entering  the  Union 
lines  in  search  of  their  peculiar  species  of  property. 
Even  soldiers  were  obliged  to  assist  in  their  recovery, 
and  thus  was  the   Union  army  at  some  points  of  its 
invasion  but  little  more  than  a  huge  host  of  marshals, 


ee  origin  ajvJ)  irisToiir  of 

engaged  in  enforcing,  on  an  extended  scale,  the  Fugi- 
tive Slave  Law. 

Subsequently,  however,  by  an  Act  of  Congress  rela- 
tive to  the  matter,  it  was  provided,  that  whenever 
slaves  should  be  required  or  permitted  by  their  masters 
and  owners  to  take  up  arms  against  the  United  States, 
or  to  assist  the  rebellion  in  any  manner  whatever,  in 
such  cases  only  should  the  said  slaves  become  free, 
and  their  former  owners  forfeit  all  right,  title  and 
interest  in  them.  Thus  the  sable  tide  that  had  exult- 
ingly  risen  to  meet  the  invading  armies  was  checked 
and  driven  back  into  the  seething  sea  of  slavery. 

It  is  pleasant  to  turn  from  the  perusal  of  such 
legislative  and  official  drivel ings  to  contemplate  the 
whole-souled  action  of  the  gallant  Fremont  in  Missouri. 
Had  he  performed  no  other  act  entitling  him  to  a  fair 
remembrance  in  his  country's  history,  his  proclamation 
against  slavery  in  the  early  days  of  the  rebellion,  when 
President,  Congress,  and  army  officials,  all  stood  in 
cringing  awe  of  the  sacred  institution  should  win  him 
the  gratitude  of  posterity.  In  that  proclamation  he 
proclaimed,  that  by  virtue  of  the  authority  vested  in 
him,  "  The  slaves  of  all  persons  in  the  State  of  Missouri 
who  shall  take  up  arms  against  the  United  States,  or 
who  shall  be  directly  proven  to  have  taken  active  part 
with  their  enemies  in  the  field,  are  hereby  declared 
freemen."  Thus  at  last  was  the  ax  laid  at  the  root 
of  the  tree,  but  before  a  blow  could  be  struck  the  timor- 
ous administration  interfered  to  prevent  damage  to  its 
favorite  exotic,  and  President  Lincoln,  in  alarm,  wrote 
to  General  Fremont,  directing  him  to  so  modify  his 
proclamation  as  to  make  it  correspond  with  the  Act  of 
Congress  referred  to  above. 

But  General  Fremont  does  not  wear  his  honors  alone. 


AMERICAN   SLAVtfRr.  67 

In  the  spring  of  the  following  year  Major  Hunter,  com- 
manding the  department  of  the  South,  issued  a  proc- 
lamation declaring  the  States  of  Georgia,  Florida,  and 
South  Carolina  under  martial  law,  at  the  same  time 
affirming,  that  as  martial  law  and  slavery  were  incom- 
patible, he  pronounced  all  those  persons  who  had  for- 
merly been  held  to  slavery  in  those  States  thenceforth 
forever  free.  This  spirited  pronuncianiento  was  how- 
ever likewise  speedily  annulled  by  the  more  conserva- 
tive President.  Immediately  after  he  issued  a  counter 
proclamation,  repudiating  the  act  of  General  Hunter  as 
nuauthorized,  and  asserting  that  he  alone,  by  virtue  of 
his  office,  possessed  the  right  to  determine  whether  he 
possessed  power  to  declare  the  slaves  of  any  State  free; 
and,  also,  if  he  possessed  the  power,  whether  it  would 
become  necessary  for  the  preservation  of  the  govern- 
ment to  exercise  it.  Congress  having  previously  passed 
a  joint  resolution,  by  which  the  United  States  was 
pledged  to  assist  any  State  which  might  of  its  own 
accord  resolve  to  abolish  slavery  in  its  limits,  with 
pecuniary  and  such  other  aid  as  might  be  necessary  to 
enable  it  to  execute  the  design,  the  Chief  Executive 
called  attention  to  its  provisions,  as  it  stood  recorded, 
as  a  solemn  and  authentic  proposal  from  the  nation  to 
the  slave  States.  None  of  the  latter,  however,  availed 
themselves  of  the  gracious  proposal,  and  the  law  in  its 
results  was  a  dead  letter. 

But  the  logic  of  events  brought  with  it  the  unerriiig 
proof  that  the  conservative  views  and  moderate  policy 
of  the  administration  were  seriously  damaging  in  their 
results  to  the  Union  arms,  and  the  government  became 
tardily  convinced  that  a  decisive  blow,  struck  forcibly 
upon  this,  the  only  really  vital  part  of  the  rebellion, 
would   speedily  be  conducive   to   permanent   success. 


GS  OlttGIjY  AjYD    JTIS20ST    OF 

The  Federal  troops  had  suffered  many  reverses,  and, 
at  times,  the  fate  of  the  Union  seemed  irrevocably 
sealed,  yet  still  was  the  nation  loth  to  use  the  effective 
weapon  of  emancipation  that  so  soon  would  have  turned 
the  scale  in  its  favor.  But  reverses  and  misfortunes 
multiplied,  and  necessity,  at  last,  compelled  a  resort  to 
the  long  ignored  and  unpopular  remedy. 

On  the  12th  of  July,  1862,  President  Lincoln,  in  a 
message  to  Congress,  recommended  the  adoption  of  a 
bill  by  them,  referring  to  the  abolition  of  slavery;  said 
bill  providing  that  whenever  any  Stal^  had  abolished 
slavery  throughout  its  limits,  either  immediately  or 
gradually,  the  President,  assisted  by  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  should  prepare  and  deliver  to  such  State 
an  amount  of  interest-bearing  bonds  of  the  United 
States,  equal  in  amount  to  the  aggregate  value  of  all 
the  slaves  existing  in  said  State,  according  to  the  census 
of  1860.  The  bill  also  provided  that,  if  the  abolition 
of  slavery  in  any  State  were  immediate,  the  payment 
of  the  designated  sum  should  be  also  immediate.  If, 
however,  the  emancipation  were  gradual,  the  payment 
also  should  be  gradual.  This  message,  however,  was 
simply  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Finances.  An 
appeal  was  subsequently  addressed  by  the  President 
to  the  representatives  of  the  Border  States  in  Congress, 
in  which  he  requested  them  to  use  their  influence  to 
induce  their  constituents  to  adopt  the  policy  of  eman- 
cipation as  indicated  in  his  message  to  Congress.  To 
this  appeal  there  were  two  replies.  The  majority  of 
representatives  thus  appealed  to,  including  those  from 
Virginia,  Kentucky,  Missouri  and  Maryland,  denied 
that  any  necessity  existed  for  the  abolition  of  slavery 
in  any  of  the  States  which  they  represented,  and  re- 
fused to  believe  that  its  abolition  in  the  rebel  States, 


AMERICAN   SLAVERY.  G& 

by  Federal  power,  would  assist  in  securing  the  triumph 
of  the  Union  cause. 

A  minority  of  the  representatives,  however,  con- 
curred in  the  views  of  the  President.  They  declared 
that  slavery  was  the  "  Lever-power  of  the  Kebellion," 
and  expressed  their  willingness  to  make  any  sacrifice 
for  the  restoration  of  the  Union,  and  concluded  by 
affirming  that,  if  the  rebels  could  give  up  slavery  to 
destroy  the  Union,  ';  they  could  surely  ask  their  people 
to  consider  the  question  of  emancipation  to  save  the 
"Union." 

This  newly-inaugurated  policy  of  the  President  was 
still  further  indicated  by  the  publication  of  an  order 
from  the  Secretary  of  War,  under  direction  of  the 
President,  that  the  military  commanders  in  the  States 
of  Virginia,  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Florida,  Alabama, 
Mississippi,  Louisiana,  Arkansas  and  Texas  should 
employ  as  laborers,  within  said  States,  as  many  persons 
of  African  descent  as  could  be  advantageously  used  for 
military  and  naval  purposes,  giving  them  reasonable 
wages  for  their  labor,  while  accounts  should  be  kept 
recording  from  whom  said  slaves  were  taken,  and  the 
value  of  their  labor,  "as  a  basis  upon  which  compen- 
sation can  be  made  in  proper  cases." 

Previously,  however,  a  "  Confiscation  and  Emancipa- 
tion Act"  had,  in  compliance  with  his  message,  been 
passed  by  both  Houses  of  Congress,  and,  on  July  17, 
was  approved  by  President  Lincoln,  and,  by  his  ap- 
proval, was  converted  into  law.  By  this  act  it  was 
provided  that  whoever  should  thereafter  be  guilty  of 
treason  against  the  United  States  should  suffer  death, 
or  be  fined  and  imprisoned,  and  their  slaves  become 
free.  Also,  any  person  who  should  in  any  way  encour- 
age and  assist  the  existing  rebellion  should  incur  fine 
and  imprisonment,  and  his  s  aves  be  declared  free. 


70  ORIGIN  AJ\*D    HISTORY    OF 

It  further  enacted  that  the  slaves  of  persons  engaged 
in  hostility  against  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  who  escaped  within  the  lines  of  the  Federal 
armies,  should  not  be  restored  to  their  masters,  but  be 
declared  free,  and  that  no  fugitive  slave  who  had  thus 
escaped  should  be  restored  to  his  master,  unless  the 
master  should  prove  he  was  loyal  to  the  Federal  gov- 
ernment, and  had  in  no  way  assisted  and  encouraged 
the  rebellion;  that,  further,  the  President  was  empow- 
ered to  employ  persons  of  African  descent  to  assist  in 
the  suppression  of  the  rebellion,  in  such  manner  as  he 
deemed  expedient;  and,  lastly,  rendered  it  lawful  for 
him  to  make  provision  for  the  settlement  and  coloniza- 
tion of  such  negroes  who,  becoming  free  through  the 
operations  of  this  act,  should  desire  to  locate  beyond 
the  limits  of  the  United  States. 

Again,  on  the  22d  of  September,  1862,  President 
Lincoln  issued  a  proclamation  that  yet  stands  forth  in 
bold  relief,  from  the  universal  gloom  that  enshrouded 
the  land,  and  inflicted  a  deadly  blow  upon  the  hitherto 
jealously-guarded  institution  of  slavery.  Circumstances 
had  rendered  it  necessary,  and  this  measure,  so  long 
deprecated  by  the  President,  was  even  then  indispen- 
sable to  the  subjugation  of  the  revolted  States. 

Ho  declared  in  it  his  intention  of  recommending,  at 
the  next  meeting  of  Congress,  the  adoption  of  measures 
tendering  pecuniary  assistance  and  compensation  to  all 
of  the  slave  States  whose  citizens  would  not  then  be 
engaged  in  rebellion  against  the  Federal  government, 
and  who  might  then  or  afterward  adopt  immediate  or 
gradual  emancipation  within  their  respective  limits, 
and  advising  the  colonization  of  free  negroes  at  some 
distant  place  on  the  American  Continent. 

Referring  to  the  Acts  of  Congress  of  March  13th  and 


AMERICAN    SLAVERY.  7t 

July  17th,  1862,  forbidding  the  fugitive  slaves  within 
the  lines  of  the  Union  armies  to  be  returned  to  their 
masters,  or  employing  the  Federal  forces  in  any  man- 
ner to  assist  in  restoring  them,  he  announced  that  on 
the  first  day  of  January,  1863,  he  would  designate 
those  States  and  parts  of  States  which  were  then  in  re- 
bellion against  the  Federal  government,  and  would 
decree  that  the  slaves  of  citizens  of  such  rebel  regions 
should  thereupon  become  free,  and  that  all  the  slaves 
of  persons  actively  engaged  in  hostilities  against  the 
United  States  should  thenceforth  be  enfranchised. 
Such  are  the  main  features  of  this  famous  proclamation 
given  to  the  world  in  the  darkest  days  of  the  Republic 
When  men's  hearts  were  failing  them,  and  the  loyal 
millions  who  had  labored  and  suffered  so  much  to  re- 
store the  once  glorious  Union  were  sitting  in  the 
shadow  of  despair,  it  lights  up  the  surrounding  gloom 
with  an  effulgent  glory  that  shall  brighten  to  the  close 
of  time,  and  shines  all  the  fairer  upon  the  page  of  his- 
tory by  contrast  with  the  dreary  days  of  national  de- 
feat. It  was  received  throughout  the  North  with  gen- 
eral but  calm  satisfaction,  a  noteworthy  fact,  inasmuch 
as  the  preceding  proclamations  in  reference  to  the  sub- 
ject had  provoked  a  degree  of  opposition,  and  even  in- 
dignation, from  many  of  the  friends  and  supporters  of 
the  government,  that  under  the  circumstances,  was 
wholly  uncalled  for.  But  the  North  had  now  felt  the 
bitterness  of  defeat.  It  looked  forward  to  a  doubtful 
issue  of  the  dreadful  conflict  that  had  rapidly  depleted 
it  of  its  blood  and  treasure.  Its  colossal  armies  had 
fought  with  fluctuating  and  variable  results.  Some- 
times their  star  of  fortune  seemed  in  the  ascendency, 
and  shining  with  unwonted  brilliancy,  again  paling 
and  scintillating  sickly  in  the  distance,  the  great  hope 


72  0KIG1JV  sIjYD    HISTORY    OP 

of  victory  vibrating  in  unison  until  it  culminated  in 
untoward  disaster  and  wide-spread  calamity;  and  now 
the  Northmen  who  still  prayed  and  worked  for  vic- 
tory, were  reconciled  to  the  extremest  measures  that 
promised  them  success,  and  hailed  with  quiet  satis- 
faction this  portentous  indication  that  the  government 
had  risen  in  its  strength,  and  was  about  to  exert  the 
full  measure  of  its  powerful  weight  to  crush  the  body 
of  its  foes. 

The  memorable  year  of  1862  was  now  drawing  to  a 
close.  The  history  of  its  gigantic  battles,  its  pro- 
tracted sieges  and  its  terrible  slaughters,  is  still  fresh 
in  the  annals  of  the  nation,  and  the  blood-marks  are 
yet  warm  upon  its  portals.  Steadily  had  the  tide  of 
war  rolled  on;  sometimes  spreading  ruin  and  dismay 
throughout  the  Southland,  but  oftener  threatening  to 
engulf,  in  its  angry  waves,  the  struggling  hosts  who 
battled  for  the  Union  of  their  common  forefathers. 
But  the  blood-besprinkled  and  battle-torn  year  went 
grandly  down  to  its  death,  crowned  with  far  more  than 
war-won  laurels,  and  was  embalmed  forever  in  the 
incense  of  the  slave's  remembrance.  With  its  last  ex- 
piring moment  perished  silently  upon  American  soil 
the  curse  of  human  slavery.  No  more  slaves  in  Amer- 
ica! No  more  traffic  in  the  souls  of  men!  Oh!  was 
not  that  a  glorious  result,  worthy  of  the  glorious  cause 
bo  gallantly  contested? 

God's  instruments  clothed  in  humanity  had  wrought 
out  the  dread  problem  of  the  ages,  and  from  the  har- 
assing clouds  of  fratricidal  war  had  evolved  the  divine 
solution.  On  the  morrow  not  a  slave  would  stand 
upon  the  continent.  The  Emancipation  Proclamation, 
that  solemn  death-warrant  of  a  peculiar  but  most  bar- 
barous institution  had  received  the  signature  of  Abra- 


AMERICAN    SL AYE RT.  73 

ham  Lincoln,  the  Chief  Executive  of  a  powerful  but 
outraged  nation,  and  the  new  year  was  already  begin- 
ning to  dawn  upon  a  spectacle  America  had  never 
heretofore  presented — a  nation  of  free  men  ! 

PROCLAMATION    OF    EMANCIPATION. 

"  I,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the  United  States, 
and  Commander-in-chief  of  the  Army  and  Navy  thereof, 
do  hereby  jDroclaim  and  declare  that  hereafter,  as  here- 
tofore, the  war  will  be  prosecuted  for  the  object  of  prac- 
tically restoring  the  constitutional  relation  between  the 
United  States  and  the  people  thereof  in  those  States  in 
which  that  relation  is,  or  may  be,  suspended  or  dis- 
turbed ;  that  it  is  my  purpose  upon  the  next  meeting 
of  Congress  to  again    recommend   the  adoption  of  a 
practical  measure  tendering  pecuniary  aid  to  the  free 
acceptance  or  rejection  of  all  the  slave  States,  so-called, 
the  people  whereof  may  not  then  be  in  rebellion  against 
the  United  States,  and  which  States  may  then  have 
voluntarily   adopted,    or   thereafter    may   voluntarily 
adopt,  the  immediate  or  gradual  abolishment  of  slavery 
within  their  respective  limits,  and  that  the  effort  to 
colonize  persons  of  African  descent,  with  their  consent, 
upon  the  continent  or  elsewhere,  with  the  previously 
obtained  consent  of  the   government,  existing  there, 
will  be  continued  ;  that  on  the  first  day  of  January,  in 
the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
sixty-three,  all  persons  held  as  slaves  within  any  State, 
or  any  designated  part  of  a  State,  the  people  whereof 
shall  then  be  in  rebellion  against  the  United  States, 

SHALL    BE    THEN,    THENCEFORWARD  AND  FOREVER,  FREE  ; 

and  the  military  and  naval  authority  thereof  will  rec- 
ognize and  maintain  the  freedom  of  such  persons,  and 
will  do  no  act  or  acts  to  repress  such  persons,  or  any  of 
them,  in  any  efforts  they  may  make  for  actual  freedom; 
that  the  Executive  will,  on  the  first  day  of  January 
aforesaid,  by  proclamation,  designate  the  States  ai^d 
parts  of  States,  if  any,  in  which  the  people  thereof  re- 
7 


7U  OftlGIJV  AJ\^    HISTORY    OF 

spectively  shall  then  be  in  rebellion  against  the  United 
States  ;  and  the  fact  that  any  State,  or  the  people 
thereof,  shall  on  that  day  be  in  good  faith  represented 
in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  by  members  chosen 
thereto,  at  elections  wherein  a  majority  of  the  qualified 
voters  of  such  State  shall  have  participated,  shall,  in 
the  absence  of  strong  countervailing  testimony,  be 
deemed  conclusive  evidence  that  such  State  and  the 
people  thereof  have  not  been  in  rebellion  against  the 
United  States. 

"Your  attention  is  hereby  called  to  an  act  of  Con- 
o-ress  entitled,  'An  act  to  make  an  additional  article  of 
war,'  approved  March  13,  1862,  and  which  act  is  in  the 
words  and  figures  following: 

" '  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Represen- 
tatives of  the  United  States  of  America,  in  Congress 
assembled,  That  hereafter  the  following:  shall  be  pro- 
mulgated as  an  additional  article  of  war  for  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Army  of  the  United  States,  and  shall 
be  observed  and  obeyed  as  such: 

"  '  Article  — .  All  officers  or  persons  of  the  military 
or  naval  service  of  the  United  States  are  prohibited 
from  employing  any  of  the  forces  under  their  respect- 
ive commands  for  the  purpose  of  returning  fugitives 
from  service  or  labor  who  may  have  escaped  from  any 
persons  to  whom  such  service  or  labor  is  claimed  to  be 
due,  and  any  officer  who  shall  be  found  guilty  by  a 
court-martial  of  violating  this  article,  shall  be  dis- 
missed from  the  service. 

"  '  Sec.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  that  this  act 
shall  take  effect  from  and  after  its  passage.' 

"  Also  to  the  ninth  and  tenth  sections  of  an  act  en- 
titled, '  An  act  to  suppress  insurrection,  to  punish  trea- 
son and  rebellion,  to  seize  and  confiscate  property  of 
rebels,  and  for  other  purposes.'  approved  July  17, 
1862,  and  which  sections  are  in  the  words  and  figures 
following: 

"  'Sec  9.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  that  all  slaves 
of  persons  who  shall  hereafter  be  engaged  in  rebellion 
against  the  Government  of  the  United  Staf.es,  or  who 
shall  in  any  way  give  aid  or  comfort  thereto,  escaping 


from  such  persons  and  taking  refuge  within  the  lines 
of  the  army;  and  all  slaves  captured  from  such  persons 
or  deserted  by  them,  and  coming  under  the  control  of 
the  Government  of  the  United  States,  and  all  slaves  of 
such  persons  found  on  (or  being  within)  any  place 
occupied  by  rebel  forces  and  afterward  occupied  by 
the  forces  of  the  United  States,  shall  be  deemed  cap- 
tives of  war,  and  shall  be  forever  free  of  their  servi- 
tude and  not  again  held  as  slaves. 

" '  Sec.  10.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  that  no  slave 
escaping  into  any  State,  Territory  or  the  District  of 
Columbia,  from  any  of  the  States,  shall  be  delivered 
up,  or  in  any  way  impeded  or  hindered  of  his  liberty, 
except  for  crime,  or  some  offense  against  the  laws,  un- 
less the  person  claiming  said  fugitive  shall  first  make 
oath  that  the  person  to  whom  the  labor  or  service  of 
such  fugitive  is  alleged  to  be  due,  is  his  lawful  owner, 
and  has  not  been  in  arms  against  the  United  States  in 
the  present  rebellion,  nor  in  any  way  given  aid  or 
comfort  thereto;  and  no  person  engaged  in  the  mili- 
tary or  naval  service  of  the  United  States  shall,  under 
any  pretense  whatever,  assume  to  decide  on  the  va- 
lidity of  the  claim  of  any  such  person  to  the  service  or 
labor  of  any  other  person,  or  surrender  up  any  such 
person  to  the  claimant,  on  pain  of  being  dismissed  from 
the  service.' 

"And  I  do  hereby  enjoin  upon,  and  order  all  per- 
sons engaged  in  the  military  and  naval  service  of  the 
United  States  to  observe,  obey  and  enforce  within  their 
respective  spheres  of  service  the  act  and  sections  above- 
recited. 

"  And  the  Executive  will,  in  due  time,  recommend 
that  all  citizens  of  the  United  States  who  shall  have 
remained  loyal  thereto  throughout  the  rebellion,  shall 
(upon  the  restoration  of  the  constitutional  relation  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  their  respective  States 
and  people,  if  the  relation  shall  have  been  suspended 
or  disturbed)  be  compensated  for  all  losses  by  acts  of 
the  United  States,  including  the  loss  of  slaves. 

"  In  witness  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand 
and  caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  affixed. 


7 d  ORIGIN  o4.J\T2)    HISTORY    OF 

"  Done  at  the  city  of  Washington,  this  twenty-second 
day  of  September,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  sixty-two,  and  of  the  Independence 
of  the  United  States  the  eighty-seventh. 

"  By  the  President:  Abraham  Lincoln. 

"  Wm.  H.  Seward,  Secretary  of  State." 


rtMEfiicAJr  szsiVEKr.  77 


PAET    II. 


;^e  $|rbedmehx 


HE  morning  of  the  1st  of  January,  1863,  dawned 
upon  the  grandest  spectacle  the  world  had  ever 
seen.  The  two  halves  of  a  great  nation,  sun- 
dered more  widely  by  mutual  hate  and  fear,  than 
though  a  mighty  ocean  rolled  between  their  hostile 
shores,  were  pausing,  as  if  to  gain  fresh  strength  and 
courage  for  a  renewed  attack  upon  each  other's  armies; 
while  out  from  the  smoke  of  the  conflict  seemed  to  issue 
a  white-winged  angel  of  peace,  proclaiming  "  Liberty 
to  all  the  land  and  freedom  to  all  the  inhabitants 
thereof  !"  The  sons  and  the  daughters  of  Africa,  scarce 
daring  to  hope  that  to  them  the  heaven-sent  messenger 
had  brought  the  "glad  tidings  of  good  news,"  stood 
doubtingly  upon  the  threshold  of  a  new  existence. 
Slavery  was  dead!  murdered  by  the  suicidal  folly  of 
its  own  too  zealous  advocates  in  a  futile,  though  right- 
royal,  effort  for  its  preservation. 

The  sublime  words  of  the  Proclamation  of  Emanci- 
pation had  already  published  its  death-knell  abroad 
to  the  listening  nations,  and  the  dull  ears  of  the  slave 
though  scarce  comprehending  its  import,  were  glad, 
dened  by  the  sound.  The  dawning  of  the  new  year 
was  likewise  the  dawning  of  a  new  era  in  the  grand 


78  OftlGIJV  AJT1)    HISTORY    OF 

cycle  of  the  ages,  for  slavery  was  dead,  and  America,  at 
last,  was  free! 

But  the  liberty  so  reluctantly  bestowed,  and  so 
doubtingly  received,  was  not,  as  yet,  the  proud,  ex- 
ultant and  intelligent  liberty  of  the  hereditary  freemen. 
Instead,  it  was  rather  the  spiritless,  unreasoning  free- 
dom of  the  long  caged  animal  suddenly  turned  loose, 
frightened,  distrustful,  and  dreading  to  stir  lest  it 
should  be  remanded  to  its  former  prison  house.  The 
freedmen  were  free  but  in  name.  Ishmael-like,  they 
issued  from  a  worse  than  Egyptian  bondage  to  wander 
for  a  season  in  a  darker  wilderness  of  doubt  and  sorrow 
than  beset  the  weary  feet  of  Israel's  ungrateful  sons. 

The  edict  of  Emancipation,  though  based  firmly  upon 
humanity,  morality  and  religion,  was  still  in  itself  but 
a  military  necessity,  reluctantly  resorted  to  when  the 
fluctuating  fortunes  of  the  imperiled  Eepublic  were  at 
the  lowest  ebb.  Hitherto  the  armies  of  the  rebellion 
had  been  strengthened  and  upheld  in  the  field  by  the 
labor  of  the  slaves.  The  negroes  were  employed  in 
cultivating  the  farms,  in  providing  for  the  support  of 
the  families  of  the  soldiers,  and  upon  the  severer  labors 
of  the  camp  and  fortification,  thereby  enabling  the 
rebels  to  place  a  proportionably  larger  force  in  the 
field  than  the  North;  and  thus  the  slave,  who  was 
really  the  friend  of  the  Union,  was  made  the  powerful 
ally  of  the  rebel  government. 

Emancipation,  apart  from  any  humane  or  moral 
consideration,  was  indispensable  to  the  success  of  the 
Union  cause,  and  the  proclamation  that  bestowed  free- 
dom upon  the  slave  ultimately  brought  ruin  upon  the 
fortunes  of  the  rebels,  by  destroying  the  primary  cause 
of  the  war,  and  removing  the  chief  supporting  pillar  of 
the  Confederacy. 


AMERICAN    SLAYER T.  79 

Arising  from  the  Proclamation,  as  a  necessary  corol- 
lary, was  the  consideration  of  the  question  of  the  rela- 
tion of  the  negro  race  to  the  war.  The  question  of 
enlisting  as  soldiers  the  free  colored  men  of  the  North 
had  for  some  time  excited  much  discussion.  The  pro- 
ject in  certain  circles  provoked  much  opposition,  and 
many  Congressmen,  of.  both  political  parties,  took  de- 
cided ground  against  the  measure  as  revolutionary  and 
repulsive;  and  in  the  highest  degree  insulting  to  the 
feelings  of  the  white  soldiers. 

But  the  body  of  the  people  felt  convinced,  from  the 
compulsory  method  of  reasoning  which  had  led  them 
to  hail  with  satisfaction  the  enunciation  of  the  procla- 
mation of  freedom,  that  the  enlistment  of  negro  troops 
would  lighten  materially  the  burdens  and  sufferings  of 
their  friends  in  the  field;  that  in  the  desperate  situa- 
tion of  the  country  the  assistance,  not  of  the  free 
negroes  in  the  North  only,  but  of  those  so  recently 
emancipated  in  the  South,  was  absolutely  necessary  to 
enable  them  to  make  a  determined  resistance  to  the 
almost  superhuman  exertions  of  the  rebels. 

On  the  28th  of  January,  1863,  a  bill  was  introduced 
into  the  House  of  Eepresentatives  by  Mr.  Stephens, 
authorizing  the  employment  of  African  troops  in  the 
Federal  armies.  It  at  first  met  with  much  opposition, 
and  its  passage  was  not  secured  until  a  later  period. 
The  bill  as  passed  by  Congress  and  approved  by  the 
President,  was  as  follows  : 

"  Be  it  enacted,  etc.,  That  the  President  be,  and  he  is 
hereby  authorized,  to  enroll,  arm,  equip,  and  receive 
into  the  land  and  naval  service  of  the  United  States, 
such  number  of  volunteers,  of  African  descent,  as  he 
may  deem  useful  to  suppress  the  present  rebellion,  for 
such  term  of  service  as  he  may  prescribe,  not  exceed- 
ing five  years  ;  the  said   volunteers  to  be  organized 


80  OftlGIJV  AJVD    HISTORY    OF 

according  to  the  regulations  of  the  branch  of  the  serv- 
ice in  which  they  may  be  enlisted,  to  receive  the  same 
rations,  clothing,  and  equipments  as  other  volunteers, 
and  a  monthly  pay  not  to  exceed  that  of  the  volun- 
teers; to  be  officered  by  white  or  black  persons  ap- 
pointed and  commissioned  by  the  President,  and  to  be 
governed  by  the  rules  and  articles  of  war,  and  such 
other  rules  and  regulations  as  may  be  prescribed  by 
the  President. 

"  Provided,  That  nothing  herein  contained,  or  in  the 
rules  and  articles  of  war,  shall  be  so  construed  as  to 
authorize  or  permit  any  officer  of  African  descent  to 
be  appointed  to  rank  or  to  exercise  military  or  naval 
authority  over  white  officers,  soldiers,  or  men  in  the 
military  or  naval  service  of  the  United  States;  nor 
shall  any  greater  pay  than  ten  dollars  per  month,  with 
the  usual  allowance  of  clothing  and  rations,  be  allowed 
or  paid  to  privates  or  laborers,  of  African  descent,  which 
are  or  may  be  in  the  military  or  naval  service  of  the 
United  States.  Provided  farther,  That  the  slaves  or 
loyal  citizens  of  the  States  exempt  by  the  President's 
proclamation  of  January  1st,  1863,  shall  not  be  received 
into  the  armed  service  of  the  United  States,  nor  shall 
there  be  recruiting  offices  opened  in  either  of  the  States 
of  Delaware,  Maryland,  West  Virginia,  Kentucky, 
Tennessee  or  Missouri,  without  the  consent  of  the 
Governors  of  the  said  States  having  been  first  ob- 
tained." 

The  good  effects  of  this  measure  became  at  once  ap- 
parent. "  The  colored  troops  fought  nobly"  and  by  their 
bravery  and  good  conduct  in  the  battles  in  which  they 
were  engaged  fully  justified  the  most  sanguine  expec- 
tations of  their  friends. 

Before  midsummer  of  the  year  1863  more  than  thirty 
thousand  troops  of  African  descent  had  been  enrolled 
in  the  Union  army.  The  tide  of  war  again  turned  in 
favor  of  the  Federal  forces,  and  victory  once  more 
perched  upon  the  banners  of  the  Union.     The  negro 


volunteers  were  first  employed  at  the  siege  of  Vi'cks- 
burg,  and  rendered  effective  service;  completely  re- 
futing the  assertions  so  often  made,  that  they  were 
deficient  in  the  courage  and  endurance  requisite  to  the 
profession  of  arms.  On  the  6th  of  July  an  attack  was 
made  upon  Milliken's  Bend  by  the  rebels  under  com- 
mand of  General  Walker.  The  Union  force  then  sta- 
tioned there  was  composed  for  the  most  part  of  negro 
troops,  portions  of  four  regiments  then  forming  for  the 
service,  but  who  had  never  been  under  fire.  The  attack- 
ing party  was  first  repulsed  by  the  colored  troops,  but 
not  without  great  loss  to  the  latter,  nearly  six  hundred 
of  whom  were  lost  in  the  engagement  that  followed. 
Some  two  hundred  of  their  number  were  taken  pris- 
oner, not  one  of  whom  was  ever  afterward  heard  from. 
The  refusal  of  the  rebel  authorities  to  give  any  account 
of  them,  together  with  the  semi-official  avowal  of  the 
intention  of  the  rebel  government  to  indiscriminately 
slaughter  the  freedmen  who  became  soldiers  of  the 
United  States,  should  they  fall  into  their  hands,  jus- 
tifies the  painful  assumption  that  they  were  murdered 
after  their  capture.  Indeed,  the  whole  subsequent 
history  of  the  rebellion  is  blurred  by  the  record  of 
many  such  inhuman  butcheries. 

In  Louisiana  a  body  of  five  hundred  negroes,  from 
the  abandoned  plantations  of  the  Attakapas  country, 
resolved  to  reach  the  Union  camp  and  enlist  as  soldiers. 
Accordingly,  they  armed  themselves  with  such  weapons 
as  they  could  find — pitchforks,  old  shot  guns,  etc.,  and 
proceeded  peaceably  on  their  way;  but  on  reaching  the 
town  of  St.  Martinsville,  through  which  they  must 
pass,  they  concluded  to  demand  the  surrender  of  the 
place,  deeming  this  the  best  plan  to  avert  a  collision 
with  the  citizens.     The  people  of  St.  Martinsville  went 


$2  OftZGIJV   AND    JflSlORT    OF 

out  to  meet  them  with  the  Union  flag,  and  by  profes- 
sions of  friendship  induced  them  to  lay  down  their 
arms  and  enter  the  town.  On  doing  so  they  were  at 
once  seized  by  the  inhabitants,  and  every  one  hung  on 
the  spot;  the  rebel  officers  who  assisted  in  the  murder 
afterward  boasting  of  the  number  they  helped  to  kill. 

A  month  later  occurred  the  massacre  of  more  than 
two  thousand  helpless  negro  prisoners  at  Brashear, 
Louisiana,  mostly  the  infirm,  and  old  men,  women, 
and  children — the  able-bodied  men  having  joined  the 
colored  regiments.  The  rebels  having  defeated  the 
Union  forces  and  captured  the  town,  rushed  upon  the 
contraband  camp  and  slaughtered  all  indiscriminately, 
save  a  very  few  who  managed  to  effect  their  escape. 
But  the  crowning  act  of  butchery,  which  stamps  upon 
the  Southern  Confederacy  the  ineffaceable  disgrace  of 
mingled  cowardice  and  brutality,  was  reserved  for 
General  Forrest,  at  Fort  Pillow.  Having  by  the  most 
pusillanimous  treachery  obtained  possession  of  the 
fort  on  April  12th,  an  inhuman  massacre  of  four  hun- 
dred persons  ensued,  the  heart-sickening  details  of 
which  are  almost  too  horrible  for  belief. 

"  Then  followed  a  scene  of  cruelty  and  murder  with- 
out parallel  in  civilized  warfare,  which  needed  but  the 
tomahawk  and  scalping  knife  to  exceed  the  worst 
atrocities  ever  committed  by  savages.  The  rebels  com- 
menced an  indiscriminate  slaughter,  sparing  neither 
age  nor  sex,  white  or  black,  soldier  or  civilian.  The 
officers  and  men  seemed  to  vie  with  each  other  in  the 
fiendish  work;  men,  women,  and  even  children,  wher- 
ever found,  were  deliberately  shot  down,  beaten,  and 
hacked  with  sabers;  some  of  the  children,  not  more 
than  ten  years  old,  were  forced  to  stand  up  and  face 
their  murderers  while  being  shot;  the  sick  and  the 
wounded  were  butchered  without  mercy,  the  rebels 
<even  entering  the  hospital  building  and  dragging  them 


AMERICAN    SLAVERY.  89 

out  to  be  shot,  or  killing  them  as  they  lay  there  un- 
ble  to  offer  the  least  resistance.  All  around  were 
heard  cries  of  'No  quarter!"  '  Nu  quarter!'  'Kill  the 
niggers;  shoot  them  down  !"  All  who  asked  for  mercy 
were  answered  by  the  most  cruel  taunts  and  sneers. 
Some  were  spared  for  a  time,  only  to  be  murdered 
under  circumstances  of  greater  cruelty.  No  cruelty 
which  the  most  fiendish  malignity  could  devise  was 
omitted  by  these  murderers.  One  negro,  who  had 
been  ordered  by  a  rebol  officer  to  hold  his  horse,  was 
killed  by  him  when  he  remounted;  another,  a  mere 
child,  whom  an  officer  had  taken  up  behind  him  on  his 
horse,  was  seen  by  Chalmers,  who  at  once  ordered  the 
officer  to  put  him  down  and  shoot  him,  which  was 
done.  The  huts  and  tents,  in  which  many  of  the 
wounded  had  sought  shelter,  were  set  on  fire,  both 
that  night,  and  the  next  morning,  while  the  wounded 
were  still  in  them — those  only  escaping  who  were  able 
to  get  themselves  out;  and  even  some  of  those,  thus 
seeking  to  escape  the  flames,  were  met  by  those  ruffians 
and  brutally  shot  down,  or  had  their  brains  beaten  out. 
One  man  was  deliberately  fastened  down  to  the  floor 
of  a  tent,  face  upward,  by  means  of  nails  driven  through 
his  clothes  and  into  the  boards  under  him,  so  that  he 
could  not  possibly  escape,  and  then  the  tent  set  on  fire; 
another  was  nailed  to  the  side  of  a  building  outside  the 
fort,  and  then  the  building  set  on  fire  and  burned." 

Yet  such  atrocities  were  unquestionably  ordered  and 
sanctioned  by  the  rebel  leaders,  they  justifying  the 
outrages  and  asserting  that  they  were  under  orders  to 
show  nu  quarter  to  the  negro  troops  when  captured. 

On  the  next  day,  Forrest  dispatched  the  rebel  Gen- 
eral Buford  to  Columbus,  Kentucky,  demanding  the  un- 
conditional surrender  of  the  post,  and  threatening,  if 
his  request  were  not  immediately  complied  with,  he 
would,  if  compelled  to  storm  the  fort,  show  no  quarter 
to  the  negro  troops. 

Colonel  Lawrence,  commander  of  the  fortress,  re- 


«$>4  ORIGIN   rt.JYD    HISlOftT    OF 

fused  emphatically  to  surrender  the  post,  and  Buford, 
taking  advantage  of  his  flag  of  truce  to  steal  a  number 
of  horses,  prudently  returned  to  the  rebel  camp,  mak- 
ing no  attempt  to  attack  the  Union  garrison. 

In  nothing  is  the  patient,  forgiving  disposition  of 
the  negroes  more  apparent  than  in  their  having  ab- 
stained from  taking  retributive  vengeance,  in  the  many 
opportunities  offered  them  afterward,  upon  the  mur- 
derers of  their  families  and  kinsmen.  Yet,  as  may  be 
supposed,  the  recital  of  such  bloody  deeds  nerved  them 
for  the  most  daring  exhibitions  of  heroism.  The  cer- 
tainty of  a  horrible  fate,  if  captured,  precluded  all 
thoughts  of  surrender;  and  they  fought  desperately, 
to  the  death.  The  record  of  the  negro  regiments  dur- 
ing the  war  is  replete  with  instances  of  individual 
valor  and  of  combined  bravery.  In  nothing  did  they 
fall  below  the  white  soldiers  of  either  of  the  opposing 
armies.  They  fought,  as  their  commanding  officers 
have  testified,  "  like  madmen,"  and  freely  flung  down 
their  lives  to  save  the  shattered  country  that  hereto- 
fore had  deserved  no  gratitude  from  any  of  their  race. 

But  the  military  atrocities  of  the  South  were  des- 
tined to  meet  a  fitting  parallel  at  the  North.  In 
the  later  j^ears  of  the  war  the  action  of  the  Federal 
government  had  been  seriously  embarrassed  by  the 
opposition  of  a  party  calling  themselves  "  Peace  Demo- 
crats," who  sympathized  strongly  with  the  slave- 
holder's rebellion,  and  lost  no  opportunity  of  covertly 
assisting  it,  or  of  conniving  to  defeat  the  aims  and 
measures  of  the  government.  This  party  obtained  a 
prominency  in  the  second  year  of  the  war,  and  though 
highly  unpopular  at  the  North,  yet  maintained  its 
organization  and  consistency  until  the  close  of  the  war, 
when  the  sudden  conversion  of  its  adherents  to  war 


AMERICAN    SLAVERY.  S5 

measures  was  edifying,  not  to  say  amusing.  Their 
relation  to  the  war  of  the  rebellion  is  analogous  to  that 
of  the  Tories  and  Royalists  to  the  Revolutionary  era. 
The  pernicious  doctrines  they  had  taken  such  pains 
to  inculcate,  culminated  on  July  13th,  1863,  in  a  dis- 
graceful riot  in  the  city  of  New  York,  in  which  prop- 
erty to  the  amount  of  nearly  two  million  dollars  was 
destroyed,  twenty-five  of  the  police  were  killed,  and 
about  one  hundred  wounded,  while  thirty  negroes  were 
murdered  and  some  seventy  wounded.  Never  had  the 
malignant  hatred  of  a  certain  class  of  people  at  the 
North  toward  the  negro  obtained  a  more  repulsive 
demonstration  than  on  this  occasion.  Meetings  of  the 
prominent  rioters  had  been  held  on  Sunday  the  12th, 
and  their  revolutionary  schemes  which  had  been  under 
consideration  for  some  time  were  fully  perfected.  At 
an  early  hour  of  Monday  morning  organized  parties, 
chiefly  but  not  exclusively  composed  of  Irish,  gathered 
in  the  streets,  shouting  their  admiration  for  Jefferson 
Davis,  the  Southern  Confederacy,  Fernando  Wood,  and 
other  prominent  officials  of  their  j)arty.  The  authori- 
ties were  panic  stricken,  and  offered  but  little  resist- 
ance to  the  mob;  and  the  police,  who  alone  opposed 
them,  met  with  severe  losses.  The  railroad  tracks  were 
torn  up,  and  the  telegraph  wires  cut.  Frantic  attempts 
were  made  to  destroy  the  offices  of  the  New  York  Trib- 
une and  New  York  Times,  both  of  which  had  rendered 
themselves  especially  obnoxious  to  the  rioters  by  their 
strong  advocacy  of  the  energetic  prosecution  of  the 
war.  But  it  was  upon  the  hapless  negroes  that  the 
most  violent  fury  of  the  mob  expended  itself.  If  col- 
ored men  or  women  appeared  upon  the  street  they 
were  instantly  pursued,  hunted  down  like  wild  ani- 
mals, beaten,   stamped  upon,  hung  to  lamp-posts,   or 


S6  OftlGIJf  #LJV¥)    HISTORY    OF 

thrown  into  the  river.  Their  houses  were  plundered, 
torn  down,  or  burned,  and  their  helpless  occupants, 
infirm  women  and  little  children,  beaten  and  murdered. 
The  Colored  Orphan  Asylum,  a  large  substantial  build- 
ing upon  Fifth  Avenue,  occupied  by  seven  or  eight 
hundred  colored  children,  was  plundered  and  burned 
to  the  ground,  the  teachers  and  children  barely  escap- 
ing with  their  lives.  The  negroes  had  been  for  years 
the  most  quiet,  orderly,  and  unoffending  class  in  the 
city.  But  for  the  offense  of  being  negroes  they  were 
persecuted  with  the  most  relentless  hostility.  Men  and 
women  too  of  the  lowest  class,  and  chiefly  Irish,  were 
guilty  of  the  most  shameless  atrocities  and  barbarity 
upon  these  unresisting  victims  of  unprovoked  bru- 
tality. On  the  evening  of  Tuesday  Governor  Seymour 
came  to  the  city,  and  addressing  the  mob  as  "  friends  " 
begged  them  to  desist  from  further  mischief,  but  the 
rioters  raged  on  unheeding.  On  Thursday  Archbishop 
Hughes  caused  a  placard  to  be  posted  throughout  the 
city,  addressed  "  to  the  men  of  New  York,  who  are  now 
called  in  many  of  the  papers  rioters,"  inviting  them  to 
his  house  that  he  might  address  them.  Such  concilia- 
tory measures  proved  fruitless.  Only  when  the  mob 
had  satiated  its  malignant  desires  for  innocent  blood, 
and  exhausted  its  demoniac  rage  upon  the  poor,  bruised 
black  bodies  of  its  victims,  did  the  disturbances  cease, 
and  quiet  once  more  resume  its  reign. 

As  may  naturally  be  supposed,  the  remarkable  events 
that  characterized  the  four  years'  struggle,  for  the 
safety  of  the  Union,  excited  no  ordinary  degree  of 
interest  in  the  nations  of  the  Old  World.  From  the  be- 
ginning they  had  marked  the  progress  of  the  war  with 
varied  emotions.  Looking  upon  the  United  States  as 
a  powerful  rival,  they  saw  already  in  the  decline  of 


AMERICAN    SLATER T>  8? 

her  prestige  their  own  future  aggrandizement,  and 
proclaimed  her  long-tried  Kepublicanism  already  a 
failure.  The  sympathies  of  the  sovereigns  of  Europe 
were  not  with  her,  but  the  people,  the  toiling  observing 
masses,  accepted  her  cause  as  their  own,  and  watched 
prayerfully  the  progress  of  the  dubious  struggle.  Espe- 
cially was  this  true  of  the  common  people  of  England. 
On  the  last  day  of  1862,  a  meeting  composed  mainly  of 
the  working  men  and  operatives  of  Manchester,  but  at 
which  were  present  several  distinguished  persons,  pre- 
pared and  sent  to  Abraham  Lincoln  an  address,  in 
which  was  expressed  their  fraternal  sentiments  toward 
America,  and  lauding  the  United  States  as  "  a  singu- 
larly happy  abode  for  the  working  millions."  The 
address  then  declared  that  but  one  thing  alone  had 
lessened  the  respect  of  its  authors  for  the  American 
people,  and  this  was,  that  their  politicians,  so  far  from 
endeavoring  to  mitigate  the  existence  of  slavery  among 
them,  had  endeavored  to  root  it  more  firmly  and  ex- 
tend it  more  widely.  But  since  the  efforts  of  the  gov- 
ernment were  now  powerfully  directed  to  the  extinc- 
tion of  slavery,  their  sympathies  were  bestowed  wholly 
upon  the  cause  of  the  Union.  The  address  further 
declared : 

"  We  assure  you  that  you  can  not  now  stop  short  of 
a  complete  uprooting  of  slavery.  It  would  not  become 
us  to  dictate  any  details,  but  there  are  broad  prin- 
ciples of  humanity  which  must  guide  you.  If  complete 
emancipation  of  some  States  be  deferred,  though  only 
to  a  predetermined  day,  still,  in  the  interval,  human 
beings  should  not  be  counted  as  chattels.  Women  must 
have  rights  of  chastity  and  maternity,  men  the  rights  of 
husbands,  masters  the  liberty  of  manumission.  Justice 
demands  for  the  black,  no  less  than  for  the  white,  the  pro- 
tection of  laic — that  his  voice  be  heard,  in  your  courts* 


SS  ORIGIN   AJYD    HISTORY    OF 

Nor  must  any  such  abomination  be  tolerated  as  slave- 
breeding  States  and  a  slave  market — if  you  choose  to 
earn  the  reward  of  all  your  sacrifices  in  the  approval 
of  the  universal  brotherhood,  and  of  the  Divine  Father. 

"  It  is  for  your  free  country  to  decide  whether  any 
thing  but  immediate  and  total  emancipation  can  secure 
the  most  indispensable  rights  of  humanity  against  the 
inveterate  wickedness  of  local  laws  and  local  execu- 
tives. We  implore  you,  for  your  own  honor  and  wel- 
fare, not  to  faint  in  your  providential  mission.  While 
your  enthusiasm  is  aflame,  and  the  tide  of  events  run 
high,  let  the  work  be  finished  effectually.  Leave  not 
the  root  of  bitterness  to  spring  up  and  work  fresh 
misery  to  your  children.  It  is  a  mighty  task,  indeed, 
to  reorganize  the  industry,  not  only  of  four  millions  of 
the  colored  race,  but  of  five  millions  of  whites.  Never- 
theless, the  vast  progress  which  you  have  made,  in  the 
short  space  of  twenty  months,  fills  us  with  hope  that 
every  stain  on  j7our  freedom  will  shortly  be  removed, 
and  that  the  erasure  of  that  foul  blot  upon  civilization 
and  Christianity — chattel-slavery — during  your  Presi- 
dency, will  cause  the  name  of  Abraham  Lincoln  to  be 
honored  and  revered  by  posterity.  We  are  certain 
that  such  a  glorious  consummation  will  cement  Great 
Britain  to  the  United  States. 

"Accept  our  high  admiration  of  your  firmness  in 
upholding  the  proclamation  of  freedom," 

To  this  address  the  President  returned  an  exceed- 
ingly appropriate  and  dignified  response;  while  the 
loyal  people  of  the  "United  States  received  with  pleas- 
ure this  testimonial  of  friendly  feeling  from  this  esti- 
mable portion  of  the  British  people,  many  of  whom 
had  shown  so  decided  a  lack#of  sympathy  for  the  Union 
eause. 

The  attention  of  the  charitable  people  of  the  North 
had  been  early  attracted  to  the  destitute  condition  of 
the  freedmen  and  refugees  who  pressed  into  the  Union 


jlMEftZC^W    SLAVERY.  89 

lines,  and  accompanied  the  armies  on  the  march.  "  Con- 
traband camps  "  arose,  as  if  by  magic,  all  over  the 
Southern  country,  and  twenty-five  thousand  liberated 
captives  joyfully  toiled  onward  with  the  triumphant 
cavalcade  that  swept  the  verdant  valleys  of  Georgia 
and  South  Carolina  when  "  Sherman  marched  down  to 
the  sea." 

Freedmen's  Aid  Societies  in  co-operation  with  the 
Soldiers'  Aid  Societies,  were  formed  in  the  cities  and 
villages  of  the  North,  and  energetic  measures  were 
speedily  inaugurated,  looking  to  the  relief  of  the  un- 
fortunates. Nor  were  their  spiritual  wants  forgotten. 
Organizations  were  formed  for  the  purpose  of  furnish- 
ing them  with  teachers,  books,  and  whatever  else  was 
most  needed.  In  this  way  much  good  was  effected, 
and  the  war  which  had  opened  with  slavery  in  the 
ascendency  closed  peacefully  upon  the  ruins  of  the 
system,  while  the  millions  of  its  trembling  bondmen 
joyfully  accepting  the  long-denied  right  of  liberty, 
stood  ready  to  enter  the  new  life,  not  of  freedmen  only, 
but  of  free  men. 
8 


90  OftlGJJV  tiJyD    tflSTORX    OF 


PAKT    III. 


J^E    ^REBDMEJ^S    jgU^EAUx 


HE  close  of  the  war  in  1865  found  the  condition 
of  the  masses  of  the  freedmen  but  little  im. 
proved.  A  fearful  rate  of  mortality  prevailed, 
and  many  had  perished  on  the  field  of  battle,  or  were 
massacred  by  the  pitiless  soldiery  of  the  South.  Many 
were  wholly  dependent  upon  the  government  for  the 
means  of  sustenance,  and  many  more  eked  out  a  bare 
subsistence  upon  scanty  and  unwholesome  food,  while 
all  shared  largely  in  the  demoralization  of  the  country. 
The  South  groaning  under  the  burdens  of  its  own  bind- 
ing, distracted  with  excitement  and  anxiety,  impover- 
ished and  humiliated  by  the  sacrifices  and  disappoint- 
ments entailed  upon  its  unhappy  people  by  the  fortunes 
of  war,  was  shattered  to  the  very  center  of  its  social 
system.  Confusion  and  anarchy  reigned  supreme,  save 
in  those  districts  occupied  by  the  national  troops,  and 
reduced  to  order  by  military  commanders.  The  con- 
dition of  the  colored  people  at  this  early  stage  of 
emancipation  was  deplorable  in  the  extreme.  Sud- 
denly set  free,  but  scarcely  realizing  the  full  import  of 
their  freedom,  without  employment,  without  means  of 
sustenance,  and  beyond  the  reach  of  friends  who  could 
assist  or  would  advise — for  strangely  enough,  their  for- 


aiMJESlCsiJV   SLAVES Y.  9* 

mer  masters  looked  upon  this  unoffending  people  as 
the  primary  cause  of  all  the  horrors  and  sufferings  en- 
gendered by  the  reign  of  terror  their  own  rash  mis- 
deeds had  inaugurated,  and  regarded  them  with  a  bitter, 
revengeful  spirit,  that  frequently  found  vent  in  unpro- 
voked cruelty  and  outrage — while  their  isolated  posi- 
tion, in  the  midst  of  a  rebellious  territory,  debarred 
from  them  the  charity  and  benevolence  of  the  North. 
Thus  a  situation  more  horribly  helpless,  more  hopeless, 
and  more  truly  lamentable  can  not  well  be  imagined. 
Thousands  of  men,  women  and  children,  wretched, 
destitute,  suffering,  sick,  and  in  many  instances  perish- 
ing from  lack  of  shelter,  food,  clothing,  and  medical 
care — crowded  into  the  cities  and  villages  of  the  South, 
while  many  of  the  more  able-bodied,  who  had  followed 
the  invading  armies  on  the  march,  were  collected  in 
miserable  camps  on  deserted  plantations,  and  com- 
manding officers  were  obliged  to  issue  rations  from  the 
commissariat  to  save  multitudes  from  absolute  starva- 
tion. 

Naturally,  the  horrors  of  their  situation  were  aggra- 
vated by  their  uncertainty  and  ignorance  regarding 
their  new  relations,  and  by  well-founded  fears  of  pun- 
ishment should  they  be  obliged  to  return  to  their 
former  owners  and  abandoned  drudgery. 

About  20,000  of  such  wretched  refugees  were  in  the 
District  of  Columbia;  100,000  in  Virginia;  nearly  50,000 
in  North  Carolina;  and  as  many  more  in  South  Caro- 
lina, Georgia,  New  Orleans,  and  along  the  Mississippi 
Biver. 

Here  indeed  was  a  fruitful  field  for  charity,  and  the 
active  benevolence  of  the  Christian  people  of  the  North 
— following  in  the  wake  of  the  army — began  to  flow  in 
one  broad  and   steady  channel  toward  the   homeless 


92  0SIG1JV  AJ\TD    HISTORY    OF 

exiles.  Private  associations  and  public  societies  were 
formed,  and  engaged  zealously  in  the  work  of  relief. 
But  the  work  was  too  vast  for  private  means  and 
agencies,  and  the  government  came  tardily  with  its 
powerful   support. 

Here  were  four  million  helpless  human  beings,  ap- 
pealing silently  to  the  sympathy  and  charity  of  the 
world,  and  enduring  their  privations  and  misfortunes 
with  a  degree  of  heroism  or  stoicism,  that  showed,  too 
well,  they  were  inured  to  such  hardships.  Four  mill- 
ion human  beings  destitute  and  ignorant,  anxious  to 
work  should  labor  be  provided  to  obtain  food\and  cloth- 
ing, silently  demanding  protection  from  injustice  and 
brutality,  scattered  throughout  the  length  and  breadth 
of  a  rebellious  and  unfriendly  territory,  and  threatened 
with  utter  immolation  unless  the  strong  arm  of  the 
government  was  extended  to  their  relief,  were  to  be 
provided  with  hospitals  for  their  sick,  homes  for  their 
orphans,  labor  for  their  middle-aged,  asylums  for  their 
old,  and  schools  for  their  young. 

From  such  contingencies,  and  for  such  benevolent 
purposes,  arose   the    Freedmen's   Bureau,  that  grand 

j  combination  of  charity  and  protection  that  has  stood 
as  a  wall  of  defense  between  the  humble  ex-slave  and 
his  revengeful  master. 

'  On  the  first  day  of  January,  1863,  the  Emancipation 
Proclamation  was  promulgated,  and,  on  the  following 
12th  of  January  a  bill  to  establish  a  Bureau  of  Eman- 
cipation in  the  War  Department  was  presented  in  the 
House  of  Representatives,  and  on  the  19th  of  January 
was  referred  to  a  committee.  Congress  adjourned  how- 
ever on  the  4th  of  March  following,  no  action  having 
been  taken  in  the  House  upon  the  report  of  the  com- 
mittee. 


AMERICAN    SZAT'Eltr.  Oj 

On  the  14th  of  December,  1863,  at  the  first  session  of 
the  thirty-eighth  Congress,  a  bill  to  establish  a  Bureau 
of  Emancipation  was  again   introduced  in  the  House, 
and  again  referred  to  a  select  committee  of  nine  mem- 
bers.    The  bill  was  reported  on  the  22d  of  December, 
and  came  up  for  debate  in  the  House  on  the  10th  of 
the  following  February.      Its  discussion  was  continued 
until  the  1st  of  March,  1864,  when  a  motion  to  lay  the 
bill  on  the  table  was  rejected  by  sixty-two  yeas  against 
sixty-eight  nays,  and  the  bill  passed  by  a  vote  of  sixty- 
nine   yeas  against  sixty-seven  nays,  with  the  title  of 
"  A  bill  to  establish  a  Bureau  of  Freedmen's  Affairs." 
It  was  sent  to  the  Senate  on  the  2d  of  March,  1864, 
and  on  the  29th  of  June  was  returned  to  the  House 
with  an  amendment  placing   the    Bureau  under   the 
charge  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.     On  the  2d 
of  July  the  bill  was  reported  back  from* the  House 
Committee,  with  the  recommendation  that  the  Senate 
amendment  be  not  concurred  in.     Its  further  consid- 
eration was  then  postponed,  and  on  the  next  day  Con- 
gress adjourned.     At  the  second  session  of  the  thirty- 
eighth    Congress  the   bill  was   again    considered,    the 
House  dissenting  from  the  Senate  amendment,  and  a 
Committee  of  Conference  was  appointed  on  the  20th 
of  December,  1864.     On  the  2d  of  February,  1865,  the 
committee  reported  a  bill  "  to  establish  a  department 
of  Freedmen  and  Abandoned  Lands."     Again  a  dispo- 
sition to  lay  the  whole  subject  on  the  table  was  mani- 
fested, but  a  motion  to  that  effect  was  defeated  by  a 
vote  of  sixty-seven  yeas  to  eighty -two  nays.     On  Feb- 
ruary 9th  the  report  of  the  committee  was  accepted  by 
the  House,  but  the  Senate  rejected  it,  and  a  new  con- 
ference was  ordered.     On  the  3d  of  March,  1865,  a  bill 
was  reported  as  a  substitute,  by  the  committee  entitled, 


91  OHIGIJV  jIjYD  Misrour   OF 

"An  act  to  establish  a  Bureau  for  the  relief  of  Freed- 
men  and  Eefugees."  This  report  was  agreed  to,  by 
both  Houses  of  Congress,  and  President  Lincoln  on  the 
same  day  approved  the  bill;  more  than  one  year  hav- 
ing elapsed  since  the  first  bill  was  passed  by  the  House- 
By  the  terms  of  the  law  its  duration  was  originally 
limited  to  one  year  after  the  close  of  the  war,  but  it 
was  subsequently  amended  so  as  to  continue  in  force 
for  two  years.  The  Bureau  was  organized  by  General 
O.  O.  Howard,  previously  of  the  army  of  Tennessee, 
he  having  been  selected  as  commissioner  by  President 
Lincoln,  and  afterward  confirmed  in  the  appointment 
by  President  Johnson.  On  the  15th  of  May,  1865, 
Commissioner  Howard  entered  upon  his  duties.  Con- 
gress having  adjourned  on  the  day  following  the  pas- 
sage of  the  act  creating  the  Bureau,  no  appropriation 
had  been  made  for  its  support,  and  its  various  officers 
and  agents  accordingly  were  detailed  for  service  from 
the  army,  and  these  were  directed  to  apply  for  the 
means  of  relieving  the  wants  of  the  destitute  to  the 
different  charitable  associations  of  the  country,  which, 
during  the  one  year  of  legislation  required  by  Congress 
to  enact  a  single  humane  statute,  had  labored  faithfully 
and  successfully  in  proportion  to  their  means  to  as- 
suage the  sorrows  and  lighten  the  burdens  of  a  shiver- 
ing^starving,  outcast  people. 

While  no  direct  appropriation  of  moneys  for  the  use 
of  the  Bureau  was  made  by  Congress  until  July  13th, 
1866,  yet  by  the  provisions  of  the  law  authorizing  it, 
arrangements  were  made  for  its  support  by  means  of 
abandoned  property,  rents  of  abandoned  lands,  and 
confiscated  property  of  leading  rebels.  Thus,  by  means 
of  material  furnished  by  the  rebellion  itself,  the  Bu- 
reau, if  properly  managed,  would  doubtless  soon  have 


AMERICAN    SLATER 2.  95 

become  an  independent  and  self-sustaining  institu- 
tion, and  thus  the  terrible  "  mistake  "  of  the  Southern 
people,  as  an  offset  to  the  incalculable  amount  of  harm 
wrought  through  the  period  of  its  duration,  would 
eventually  have  been  productive  of  no  small  amount  of 
good  through  its  debris.  But  shortly  after  the  passage 
of  the  law  appeared  President  Johnson's  proclamation 
of  pardon,  and  in  the  restoration  of  lands  and  prop- 
erty to  pardoned  rebels  that  followed,  the  Bureau  was 
deprived  of  its  expected  support. 

Commissioner  Howard,  in  reply  to  a  resolution  of 
the  House  of  Representatives,  referred  to  the  conse- 
quent disarrangement  of  his  plans  as  follows: 

"  The  real  property  turned  over  to  it  at  its  organ- 
ization was  seized,  for  the  most  part,  as  abandoned. 

"  It  was  intended  not  only  to  allot  this  to  freedmen, 
but  also  to  use  it  as  a  means  of  revenue.  For  the  latter 
purpose  it  had  already  become  exceedingly  useful  and 
valuable  to  the  Bureau,  and  measures  had  been  ini- 
tiated to  use  portions  for  the  former  purpose,  when, 
on  the  16th  of  August,  instructions  were  received  to 
the  effect  that  abandoned  property  should  be  restored 
to  former  owners  when  pardoned.  Under  these  in- 
structions the  Bureau  has  parted  with  the  greater  por- 
tion of  this  property.  Its  tenure  upon  it  has  been 
rendered  so  uncertain  that  the  steps  taken  to  allot  it 
to  freedmen  have  been  countermanded  in  most  in- 
stances, and  its  revenue  has  been  so  curtailed  that  it 
is  not  now  a  self-supporting  institution. " 

Previously  to  the  formation  of  the  Freedmen's  Bu- 
reau, under  what  was  then  called  the  Department  of 
Negro  Affairs,  a  fund  collected  by  the  Treasury  De- 
partment  from  the  rent  of  abandoned  lands  and  from 
the  sale  of  property  set  apart  for  the  use  of  the  freed- 
men, and  held  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  was 
by  order  of  President  Johnson  transferred  to  the  Bu- 


96  ORIGIN  AJVD    HISTORY    OF 

reau  on  June  2d,  1865.  Also  such  commissary,  quarter- 
master, medical  and  hospital  stores  as  were  pressingly 
needed  to  supply  immediate  want  were  furnished  by 
the  war  department: 

"  The  whole  expenditure  since  the  pas- 
sage of  the  law,  March  3,  1865,  down 
to  January  1,  1868,  from  moneys  ap- 
propriated by  Congress  for  the  Bu- 
reau, amounts  to $4,397,854  39 

"  But  of  that  amount  the  sum  of  $500,000 
was  applied,  under  a  resolution  of 
Congress  directing  the  Secretary  of 
War  to  issue  supplies  of  food  to  pre- 
vent starvation  and  extreme  want,  to 
destitute  white  persons  in  the  South- 
ern and  Southwestern  States,  where 
failure  of  crops  had  caused  destitu- 
tion. This  amount  was  set  apart  for 
that  purpose  April  3,  1867.  A  fur- 
ther sum  of  $50,000  was  transferred 
by  Congress  to  the  Agricultural  De- 
partment for  seeds  to  the  South 550,000  00 

"  These  sums  should  not  be  charged  to 
the  expense  account  of  the  Bureau; 
so  that  the  whole  expenditure  from 
appropriations    by  Congress  for  the 

use  of  the  Bureau  since  its  establish- 

ment  amount  to  3,847,854  39 


"  There  has  been  expended  by  the  Bureau,  in  addi- 
tion to  what  Congress  has  appropriated,  since  the 
establishment  of  the  Bureau,  the  sum  of  $1,561,602  62. 
But  this  sum  had  been  collected  from  abandoned  prop- 
erty and  from  property  assigned  to  freedmen  before 
the  Bureau  went  into  operation ;  and  of  this  sum 
there  has  been  expended  for  educational  purposes 
$392,526  98.  ' 

Immediately  on  General  Howard's  accession  to  the 
charge  of  the  Bureau,  he  began  zealously  and  untir- 


AMERICAN    SZATERr.  97 

jngly  the  work  of  creating  a  new  world  of  law  and 
order  from  the  floating,  heterogeneous  mass  of  crude 
material  scattered  through  the  South. 

His  first  order  to  his  assistant  commissioners  was  to 
protect  loyal  refugees  from  abuse,  and  to  maintain  and 
declare  everywhere  the  freedom  of  the  freedmen.  With 
the  approval  of  the  President  they  were  authorized  to 
adjudicate  all  difficulties  arising  between  whites  and 
negroes  in  cases  where  justice  could  not  be  obtained 
through  the  civil  courts.  They  were  also  directed  to 
exert  all  their  influence  to  preserve  peace  and  good 
order  in  the  districts  over  which  their  jurisdiction  ex- 
tended. To  execute  these  orders  it  was  necessary  lor 
the  officers  stationed  in  the  rebel  States  to  resort  to  a 
variety  of  ways  and  expedients.  As  may  be  supposed 
in  a  community  educated  to  believe  in  the  divine  origin 
of  slavery,  magistrates  and  judges  could  now  seldom  be 
persuaded  to  regard  colored  men  as  equals  before  the 
law  with  whites;  and  at  first  they  positively  refused  to 
receive  the  testimony  of  negroes  against  white  per- 
sons. Hence  became  necessary  bureau  courts,  provost 
courts,  and  boards  of  arbitration  for  the  settlement  of 
all  ordinary  complaints.  In  cases  of  capital  crime  and 
felony,  or  involving  titles  to  real  estate,  appeal  was 
made  to  the  military  commanders. 

Earely  indeed  has  an  attempt  been  made  by  a  civil 
officer  to  bring  guilty  persons  to  justice  when  the 
aggrieved  party  was  a  negro  ;  and  yet  the  reports 
of  these  bureau  officers  are  replete  with  instances  of 
cruelty  and  violence  toward  the  freedmen.  l'  Mur- 
ders, whipping,  tying  up  by  the  thumbs,  defrauding  of 
wages,  over-working,  combining  for  purposes  of  extor- 
tion, and  binding  out  of  children  as  apprentices  with- 
out their  parent's  consent,"  are  some  of  the  varied 
9 


99  ORIGIN  zlJY&    HISTORY   OF 

forms  in  which  Southern  planters  and  property  holders 
testified  their  affection  for  their  emancipated  slaves; 
and  no  pen  can  do  justice  to  the  self-denying  labors 
and  steadfast  exertions  of  the  body  of  bureau  agents 
stationed  at  remote  parts  throughout  the  subjugated 
but  unsettled  territory  of  the  South.  A  position  more 
isolated,  more  unenviable,  more  dangerous,  and  more 
productive  of  hard  work  can  not  easily  be  imagined. 
Probably,  since  the  origin  of  the  government,  no  single 
institution  save  the  Freedmen's  Bureau,  and  no  sepa- 
rate body  of  men  beside  its  agents  in  the  South,  have 
been  so  vigorously  assailed,  so  maliciously  misrepre- 
sented, and  so  bitterly  maligned. 

Many  of  the  latter  were  mobbed,  some  were  mur- 
dered, and  all  of  them  during  their  enforced  sojourn  in 
the  South  subjected  to  insults  the  most  coarse,  threats 
the  most  brutal,  and  annoyances  the  most  contempt- 
ible, that  ever  disgraced  civilized  barbarians.  But  if 
attention  to  duty,  persevering  patience,  and  the  con- 
sciousness of  a  good  work  wellt?performed  can  compen- 
sate for  lack  of  sympathy,  social  ostracism,  and  per- 
sonal abuse,  then  verily  they  have  their  reward! 

For  the  more  successful  furtherance  of  its  objects  the 
Bureau  was  divided  into  the. several  departments  of  the 
land_and  claim  division,  the  financial,  medical,  sub- 
sistence, and  educational  divisions;  each  of  which,  in 
its  offices,  operations,  and  results,  contributed  to  pro- 
mote the  primary  ends  of  the  institution,  viz:  to  pre- 
pare the  freedman  for  his  new  condition;  to  aid  him 
during  the  transition  period  from  slavery  to  freedom; 
to  protect  him  in  the  enjoyment  of  his  natural  and 
acquired  rights  immediately  consequent  on  emancipa- 
tion; to  inaugurate  and  secure  a  system  of  free  labor, 
and  to  foster  and  develop  education.     It  was  not  the 


AMERICAN   SLAVERY.  99 

purpose  of  the  Bureau  to  supersede  the  benevolent 
agencies  already  engaged  in  the  work  of  instruction, 
but  to  systemize  and  facilitate  them.  From  the  report 
of  the  Congressional  Committee  on  Freedmen,  March 
10,  1868,  we  condense  the  following  brief  account  of 
the  operations  of  the  Bureau  in  regard  to  the  latter: 

"When  our  armies  entered  the  South  two  facts  be- 
came apparent:  first,  a  surprising  thirst  for  knowledge 
among  the  negroes;  second,  a  large  volunteer  force  of 
teachers  for  their  instruction. 

"Without  delay  schools  were  successfully  established 
and  the  earliest  efforts  to  impart  knowledge  found  the 
freedmen  ready  for  its  reception.  Teachers  of  charac- 
ter and  culture  were  ready  from  the  first.  To  some 
extent  the  army  had  carried  its  own  instructors.  Ne- 
gro servants  of  officers  studied  at  the  camp-fires  of 
fellow  servants.  Chaplains  of  colored  troops  became 
instructors.  In  the  campaigns  of  1864  and  186.5  the 
Christian  Commission  employed  50  teachers  in  colored 
camps  and  regiments. 

"At  the  close  of  the  war  it  is   believed  that  20,000   y 
colored  soldiers  could  read  intelligently,  and   a   much 
larger  number  were  learning  their  first  lessons. 

"  Eeally  wonderful  results  had  been  accomplished 
through  the  disinterested  efforts  of  benevolent  associa- 
tions working  in  connection  with  the  government. 
But  arrangements  were  soon  made  to  give,  on  a  larger 
scale,  systematic  and  impartial  aid  to  all  of  them.  This 
consisted  in  turning  over  for  school  use  temporary  gov- 
ernment buildings  no  longer  needed  for  military  pur- 
poses, and  buildings  seized  from  disloyal  owners;  also 
transportation  for  teachers,  books,  and  school  furni- 
ture, with  quarters  and  rations  for  teachers  and  super- 
intendents when  on  duty. 

"  Schools  were  taken  in  charge  by  the  Bureau,  and 
in  some  States  carried  on  wholly  (in  connection  with 
local  efforts)  by  use  of  the  'refugees  and  freedmen's 
fund.'  Teachers  came  under  the  general  direction  of 
the  assistant  commissioners,  and  protection  through 


fOO  OXIGIJV  dJYD    EISlORr   OF 

the  department  commanders  was  given  to  all  engaged 
in  the  work. 

"Superintendents  of  schools  for  each  State  were  ap- 
pointed July  12,  1865,  whose  duty  it  was  '  to  work  as 
much  as  possible  in  connection  with  State  officers  who 
may  have  had  school  matters  in  charge,  and  to  take 
cognizance  of  all  that  was  being  done  to  educate  refu- 
gees and  freedmen,  secure  protection  to  schools  and 
teachers,  promote  method  and  efficiency,  and  to  cor- 
respond with  the  benevolent  agencies  which  were  sup- 
plying his  field.  ' 

"The  total  number  of  pupils  January  1,  1866,  in  all 
the  colored  schools,  as  near  as  could   be  ascertained, 
-7was  90,589  ;  teachers,  1,314  ;  schools,  740. 

"  Wherever  our  troops  broke  through  the  lines  of 
the  enemy,  schools  followed.  At  Hampton,  Beaufort, 
North  Carolina,  Roanoke  Island,  and  New  Orleans, 
they  were  soon  in  operation.  A  very  efficient  system 
was  instituted  for  Louisiana  in  the  early  part  of  1864, 
by  Major  General  Banks,  then  in  command  of  that- 
State.  It  was  supported  by  a  military  tax  upon  the 
whole  population.  Schools  were  opened  in  Savannah, 
Georgia,  on  the  entrance  of  General  Sherman,  in  De 
cember,  1864,  and  500  pupils  were  at  once  enrolled. 
Ten  intelligent  colored  persons  were  the  first  teachers, 
and  nearly  $1,000  were  immediately  contributed  by  the 
negroes  for  their  support.  This  work  was  organized 
by  the  Secretary  of  the  American  Tract  Society,  Bos- 
ton. Two  of  the  largest  of  these  schools  were  in 
4  Bryan's  slave  mart,'  where  platforms  occupied  a  few 
days  before  with  bondmen  for  sale  became  crowded 
with  children  learning  to  read. 

"  At  the  end  of  the  school  year,  July  1,  1866,  it  was 
found  that  while  complete  organization  had  not  been 
reached,  the  schools  in  nearly  all  the  States  were  stead- 
ily gaining  in  numbers,  attainment,  and  general  in- 
fluence. 

"The  official  reports  of  superintendents  gave  975 
schools,  1,405  teachers,  and  90,778  pupils.  But  these 
figures  were  not  a  true  exhibit  of  the  actual  increase. 
They  did  not  include  many  schools  which  failed  to  re- 


AMERICAN   SLAVERY.  fOl 

port.  It  was  estimated  that  in  all  the  different  meth- 
ods of  teaching  there  had  been,  during  the  preceding 
six  months,  150,000  freedmen  and  their  children  earn- 
estly and  successfully  occupied  in  study. 

"Some  change  of  sentiment  had,  at  this  time,  been 
observed  among  the  better  classes  of  the  South;  those 
of  higher  intelligence  acknowledging  that  education 
must  become  universal.  Still,  multitudes  bitterly  op- 
posed the  schools.  Teachers  were  proscribed  aDd  111- 
treated  ;  school-houses  were  burned  ;  many  schools 
could  not  be  opened,  and  others,  after  a  brief  struggle, 
had  to  be  closed.  Nevertheless,  the  country  began  to 
feel  the  moral  power  of  this  movement.  Commenda- 
tions came  from  foreign  lands,  and  the  universal  de- 
mand of  good  men  was  that  the  work  should  go  on. 

u  As  showing  the  desire  for  education  among  the 
freedmen,  we  give  the  following  facts  :  When  the  col- 
lection of  the  general  tax  for  colored  schools  was  sus- 
pended in  Louisiana  by  military  order,  the  consterna- 
tion of  the  colored  population  was  intense.  Petitions 
began  to  pour  in.  I  saw  one  from  the  plantations  across 
the  river,  at  least  thirty  feet  in  length,  representing 
ten  thousand  negroes.  It  was  affecting  to  examine  it, 
and  note  the  names  and  marks  [X]  of  such  a  long  list 
of  parents,  ignorant  themselves,  but  begging  that  their 
children  might  be  educated,  promising  that  from  be- 
neath their  present  burdens,  and  out  of  their  extreme 
poverty,  they  would  pay  for  it. 

"  In  September,  1865,  J.  W.  Alvord,  the  present  gen- 
eral superintendent,  was  appointed  'Inspector  of 
Schools. '  He  traveled  through  nearly  all  the  States 
lately  in  insurrection,  and  made  the  first  general  re- 
port to  the  Bureau  on  the  subject  of  education,  Janu- 
ary 1,  1866. 

"  Extracts  from  this  report  give  the  condition  of  the 
freedmen  throughout  the  whole  South.  He  says,  'The 
desire  of  the  freedmen  for  knowledge  has  not  been 
overstated.  This  comeYlr^hTseveralcauses. 
~'l.  The  natural  thirst  for  knowledge  common  to  all 
men. 

"  '2.  They   have  seen  power  and   influence  among 


t02  ORIGIJV  siJVD    &IS20HY    OF 

white  people  always  coupled  with  learning ;  it  is  the 
sign  of  that  elevation  to  which  they  now  aspire. 

"  '3.  Its  mysteries,  hitherto  hidden  from  them  in 
written  literature,  excite  to  the  special  study  of  books. 

'"4.  Their  freedom  has  given  wonderful  stimulusto 
all  effort,  indicating  a  vitality  which  augurs  well  for 
their  whole  future  condition  and  character. 

"  '  5.  But,  especially,  the  practical  business  of  life  now 
upon  their  hands  shows  their  immediate  need  of  edu- 
cation. 

"'This  they  all  feel  and  acknowledge;  hence  their 
unusual  welcome  of  and  attendance  upon  schools  is 
confined  to  no  one  class  or  age.  Those  advanced  in 
life  throw  up  their  hands  at  first  in  despair,  but  a 
little  encouragement  places  even  these  as  pupils  at  the 
alphabet. 

"  'Such  as  are  in  middle  life,  the  laboring  classes, 
gladly  avail  themselves  of  evening  and  Sabbath- 
schools.  They  may  be  often  seen  during  the  intervals 
of  toil,  when  off  duty  as  servants,  on  steamboats, 
along  the  railroads,  and  when  unemployed  in  the 
streets  in  the  city,  or  on  plantations,  with  some  frag- 
ment of  a  spelling-book  in  their  hands,  earnestly  at 
study. 

"  'Regiments  of  colored  soldiers  have  nearly  all  made 
improvement  in  learning.  In  some  of  them,  where  but 
few  knew  their  letters  at  first,  nearly  every  man  can 
now  read,  and  many  of  them  write.  In  other  regi- 
ments one-half  or  two-thirds  can  do  this. 

"  'Even  in  hospitals  I  discovered  very  commendable 
efforts  at  such  elementary  instruction. 

"  'Bat  the  great  movement  is  among  children  of  the 
usual  school  ager  Their  parents,  if  at  all  intelligent, 
encourage  them  to  study.  Your  officers  add  their  in- 
fluence, and  it  is  a  fact,  not  always  true  of  children, 
that  among  those  recently  from  bondage,  the  school- 
house,  however  rough  and  uncomfortable,  is  of  all 
places  most  attractive.  A  very  common  punishment 
for  misdemeanor  is  the  threat  of  being  kept  at  home  for 
a  day.     The  threat,  in  most  cases,  is  sufficient.' 

"  The  report  goes   on  to  say,  '  Much  opposition  has 


been  encountered  from  those  who  do  not  believe  in  the 
elevation  of  the  negro.  A  multitude  of  facts  might  be 
given.  It  is  the  testimony  of  all  superintendents  that 
if  military  power  should  be  withdrawn,  our  schools 
would  cease  to  exist. 

u  '  This  opposition  is  sometimes  ludicrous  as  well  as 
inhuman.  A  member  of  the  legislature,  in  session 
while  I  was  at  New  Orleans,  was  passing  one  of  the 
schools  with  me,  having  at  the  time  its  recess,  the 
grounds  about  the  building  being  filled  with  children. 
He  stopped  and  looked  intently,  then  earnestly  inquired 
•'Is  this  a  school?"  "Yes,"  I  replied.  "  What !  of  niggers?" 
"  These  are  colored  children,  evidently,"  I  answered. 
u  Well!  well!"  said  he,  and  raising  his  hands,  "I  have 
seen  many  an  absurdity  in  my  lifetime,  but  this  is  the 
climax  of  absurdities  /"  I  am  sure  he  did  not  speak 
from  effect,  but  as  he  felt.  He  left  me  abruptly,  and 
turned  the  next  corner  to  take  hig  seat  with  legislators 
similarly  prejudiced.'  / 

"  The  act  of  July  16, 1866,  enlarged  the  powers  of  the*' 
Bureau  in  regard  to  education.  It  sanctioned  co-oper- 
ation with  private  benevolent  associations,  and  with 
agents  and  teachers  accredited  by  them.  It  directed 
the  Commissioner  to  '  hire  or  provide,  by  lease,  build- 
ings for  purposes  of  education  whenever  teachers  and 
means  of  instruction,  without  cost  to  the  government, 
should  be  provided.'  And,  also,  that  he  should  '  fur- 
nish such  protection  as  might  be  required  for  the  safe 
conduct  of  such  schools.' 

"  The  schools,  on  the  passage  of  this  act,  assumed  in 
all  respects  a  more  enlarged  and  permanent  character. 
Schools  in  the  cities  and  larger  towns  began  to  be 
graded.  Normal  or  high  schools  were  planned,  and  a 
few  came  into  existence.  The  earliest  of  these  were  at 
Norfolk,  Charleston,  New  Orleans  and  Nashville. 

"  Industrial  schools  for  girls,  in  which  sewing,  knit- 
ting, straw-braiding,  etc.,  were  taught,  were  encouraged. 
School  buildings,  \>y  rent  or  construction,  were  largely 
provided,  and  new  stimulus  was  given  to  every  de- 
partment. 

"  The  freedmen,  in   view  of  new   civil  rights,   and 


iOi.  OHTGIJV  siJV^)    HISTORIC    OJT 

what  the  Bureau  had  undertaken  for  them,  had  gained 
an  advanced  standing,  with  increasing  self-respect  and 
confidence  that  a  vastly  improved  condition  was  with- 
in their  reach. 

"  Up  to  this  time  it  had  been  questioned  whether 
colored  children  could  advance  rapidly  into  the  higher 
branches,  but  it  was  found  that  23,727  pupils  were  in 
writing,  12,970  in  geography,  31,692  in  arithmetic,  and 
1,573  in  higher  branches  ;  and  that  out  of  1,430  teach- 
ers of  the  day  and  night  schools,  458  were  colored 
persons. 

"  The  January  report  stated  that  '  the  actual  results 
reached,  since  these  schools  commenced,  both  in  num- 
bers and  in  advancement,  were  surprising.'  At  the 
end  of  the  school  year,  July  1,  1867,  it  could  be  said, 
'  We  look  back  with  astonishment  at  the  amount  ac- 
complished. Such  progress  as  is  seen  under  auspices 
admitted  to  be  unfavorable;  the  permanency  of  the 
schools,  scarcely  one  failing  when  once  commenced; 
the  rapid  increase  of  general  intelligence  among  the 
whole  colored  population,  are  matters  of  constant  re- 
mark by  every  observer.  Thus  far  this  educational 
effort,  considered  as  a  whole,  has  been  eminently  suc- 
cessful. The  country  and  the  world  are  surprised  to 
behold  a  depressed  race,  so  lately  and  so  long  in  bond- 
age, springing  to  their  feet  and  entering  the  lists  in 
hopeful  competition  with  every  rival.' 

"  Reports  from  all  the  States  show  that  there  are 
1,839  day  and  night  schools,  2,087  teachers,  and 
111,442  pupils.  By  adding  industrial  schools,  and 
those  'within  the  knowledge  of  the  superintendent,' 
the  number  will  be  2,207  schools,  2,442  teachers,  and 
130,735  pupils. 

"Sabbath-schools  also  show  much  larger  numbers 
during  the  past  year,  the  figures  being  1,126  schools 
and  80,647  pupils;  and  if  we  add  those  'not  regularly 
reported,'  the  whole  number  of  Sabbath-schools  will 
be  1.468,  with  105,786  pupils  ;  totals,  schools  of  all 
kinds,  as  reported,  3,695  ;  pupils,  238.342.  Of  these 
schools  1,086  are  sustained  wholly  or  in  part  by  the 
freedmen,    and  391  of  the  buildings   in  which   these 


AMEJtlCAJV   SLAYER*.  /05 

schools  are  held  are  owned  by  themselves;  699  of  the 
teachers  in  the  day  and  night  schools  are  colored  and 
1,388  white;  28,068  colored  pupils  have  paid  tuition, 
the  average  amount  per  month  being  $12,720  96,  or  a 
fraction  nvgr  45  oprnts  pp.r  £fihnjfl.r._  Only  8^74-3  pupils 
were  free  before  the  war. 

"  As  showing  the  progress  of  the  schools,  it  will  be 
observed  that  42.879  pupils  are  now  in  writing,  23,957 
in  geography,  40,454  in  arithmetic,  and  4  661  in  higher 
branches.  Twenty-one  normal  or  high  schools  are  in 
operation,  with  1  821  pupils,  the  schools  having  doubled 
in  number  during  the  last  year  with  three  times  the 
number  of  pupils.  Of  these  schools  not  many  are  far 
advanced,  but  they  are  intended  to  be  what  their  name 
implies. 

"There  are  now  35  industrial  schools,  giving  instruc- 
tion to  2,124  pupils  in  the  various  kinds  of  female 
labor,  not  including  4,185  in  the  day  schools,  who  are 
taught  needle-work.  The  average  daily  attendance 
in  all  the  above  schools  has  been  nearly  75  per  cent,  of 
the  enrollment. 

"  There  are  now  connected  with  these  schools  44 
children's  temperance  societies,  called  the  '  Vanguard  of 
Freedom/  having,  in  the  aggregate,  3,000  members. 
These  societies  are  constantly  increasing,  and  doing 
much  to  train  children  in  correct  moral  habits. 

"  Education  in  thrift  and  economy  is  effected  through 
the  influence  of  the  'Freedmen's  Savings  and  Trust 
Company,'  chartered  by  Congress,  and  placed  under 
the  protection  of  this  Bureau.  Twenty  branches  of 
thi^  institution,  located  in  as  many  of  the  central  cities 
and  larger  towns  of  the  Southern  States,  are  now  in 
operation  Six  of  these  banks  have,  at  this  time  (Jan- 
uary 1,  1868),  on  deposit  an  average  of  over  $50,000 
each,  the  whole  amount  now  due  depositors  at  all  the 
branches  being  $585,770  17.  Four  times  this  amount 
has  been  deposited  and  drawn  out  for  use  in  important 
purchases,  homesteads  etc.  Both  the  business  and  the 
influence  of  the  banks  are  rapidly  increasing.  Multi- 
tudes of  these  people  never  before  had  the  first  idea  of 
saving  for  future  use.     Their  former  industry  was  only 


foe  ORIGIJV  siJYD    HIS 2  0 It  Y   OF 

a  hard,  profitless  task,  but  under  the  instructions  of 
the  cashiers  the  value  of  money  is  learned,  and  they 
are  stimulated  to  earn  it." 

In  accordance  with  an  act  of  Congress  arrangements 
have  been  made  for  the  discontinuance  of  the  opera- 
tions of  the  Bureau,  save  in  the  Educational  and  Claim 
Departments,  after  the  31st  day  of  December,  1868. 
Having  in  great  measure  accomplished  the  work  for 
which  it  was  designed,  its  further  continuance  was 
deemed  unnecessary,  not  even  its  founders  having 
wished  to  engraft  it  as  a  permanent  institution  upon 
the  government. 

Did  not  the  incalculable  amount  of  good  wrought 
through  its  instrumentality  yet  remain  as  witness  to 
its  beneficial  influence,  no  higher  eulogium  upon  the 
character  of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  could  be  produced 
than  this  significant  fact:  throughout  all  the  South  its 
enemies  have  been  the  men  who  persistently  fought 
against  the  government;  its  steadfast  and  loyal  friends 
were  those,  who,  during  the  progress  of  the  rebellion, 
faithfully  adhered  to  the  fortunes  of  the  Union. 


stMJ2RCri.W   SZdYERY*  tO? 


PAET    IV. 


J^e  Missionary  ^c^ools  of  tub  @out^x 

HE  ecclesiastical  history  of  America  has  long 
furnished  many  of  the  most  sublime  instances 
of  missionary  faith  and  enterprise  ever  placed 
on  record.  The  charities  of  her  churches  are  un- 
bounded ;  the  zeal  and  liberality  of  her  professors  pro- 
verbial; and  the  labors  of  her  ministers  unsurpassed. 
The  various  religious  sects  of  the  country  have  con- 
stantly vied  with  each  other  in  extending  the  limits 
of  their  usefulness,  and  the  number  of  their  proselytes. 
Her  missionary  ships  have  sailed  on  every  sea.  Her 
boundless  love  embraces  every  land  and  nation.  In 
every  clime  and  for  every  race  of  men  her  missionaries 
have  toiled  and  suffered.  They  have  braved  the  dan- 
gers of  the  deep,  the  treachery  of  savage  men,  the 
sickliness  of  sultry  climates,  the  loneliness  of  foreign 
and  unfriendly  lands  ;  and  amid  the  many  difficult 
duties  and  weighty  responsibilities  that  are  none  the 
less  burdensome  because  voluntarily  assumed,  they 
have  borne  with  a  sublime  courage  and  resignation 
the  thousand  trivial  trifles  and  discouragements  insep- 
arable from  their  station. 

But  while  thus  keenly  alive  to  the  miseries  and  de- 
gradation of  the  ignorant  natives  of  the  Old  World, 


/OS  OftlGIJV   ri.JY2)  JTIST0S2    OJf 

America  was  strangely  blind  to  the  existence  of  a  class 
of  heathen  in  her  midst,  who  in  point  of  ignorauce  and 
degradation  were  not  a  whit  behind  their  benighted 
brethren  on  the  coast  of  Africa.  The  beam  of  Southern 
slavery  in  her  own  eye  occasioned  no  inconvenience, 
nor  cost  her  a  single  pang  of  conscience,  while  busied 
in  removing  those  unsightly  motes  in  the  clear  vision 
of  Christendom. 

But  a  day  of  awakening  came  at  last,  heralded  it  is 
true  by  the  confused  sounds  of  battle,  and  denied  by 
garments  rolled  in  blood  ;  yet  in  the  dread  struggle 
that  ensued  the  scales  fell  from  her  eyes,  and  she  heard 
in  the  heat  of  the  conflict  the  divine  behest  of  the  God 
of  battles  commanding  her  to  let  his  people  go! 

And  when  strengthened  and  purified  by  the  trying 
ordeal  from  whence  she  emerged  victorious,  she  saw 
the  last  stronghold  of  rebellion  subdued,  with  her  own 
glorious  ensign  again  raised  in  undimmed  splendor 
over  land  and  sea,  and  heard  the  united  voices  of  mill- 
ions of  free  men  swell  in  the  glad  tones  of  rejoicing, 
the  triumphant  notes  of  victory;  then,  in  the  hour  of 
her  triumph,  and  the  day  of  her  rejoicing,  America 
remembered  the  poor ! 

At  the  close  of  the  war  the  whole  Southern  country, 
with  its  4,000,000  of  emancipated  slaves,  was  opened  to 
missionary  effort.  The  Freedmen's  Bureau  was  created 
by  the  government  for  their  protection  against  violence 
and  oppression.  The  steady  stream  of  supplies  which 
the  generous  people  of  the  North  had  been  pouring  out 
for  suffering  soldiers  was  not  permitted  to  subside. 
Naturally  it  reverted  to  the  freedmen,  and  saved  thou- 
sands from  starvation.  But  millions  of  dusky  hands 
were  reached  forth  imploringly  for  knowledge,  and 
eager  tongues  were  asking  for  instruction.     Nor  did 


AMERICAN   SLAYER*.  109 

they  ask  in  vain.  The  various  educational  agencies 
of  the  North  responded  nobly.  Philanthropic  and 
Christian  men  and  women  tendered  their  services  as 
instructors,  and  the  people  proffered  means  propor- 
tionate to  the  magnitude  of  the  work. 

The  American  Missionary  Association  was  first  in 
the  field,  and  by  a  strange  coincidence  its  first  school 
was  stationed  at  Fortress  Monroe,  Virginia,  near  the 
spot  where  the  first  slave  ship  had  landed  its  cargo  on 
the  continent  in  1620.  Thus  have  the  slave  ship  and 
the  colored  school  marked  the  two  great  eras  in  the 
history  of  the  Southern  States;  the  one  founding  a 
system  of  error  and  iniquity,  the  other  building  upon 
the  ruins  of  that  system  a  fair  structure  of  piety  and 
intelligence  that  shall  stand  in  its  effects  forever. 

The  Association  was  eminently  fitted  for  the  task  of 
Christianizing  the  late  slaves.  Aside  from  its  unsec- 
tarian  character,  which  especially  recommended  it  to 
the  churches  of  the  North  as  an  impartial  medium 
through  which  their  charities  could  be  dispensed,  its 
history  not  only  as  an  anti-slavery  society,  but  as  a 
missionary  organization  was  well  calculated  to  prepare 
it  for  the  work.  For  fifteen  years  it  had  struggled 
against  the  terrible  power  of  slavery,  North  and  South 
in  Church  and  State,  as  well  as  in  social  and  business 
life.  Founded  in  sympathy  for  the  oppressed,  it  found 
a  fruitful  field  for  the  labors  of  its  representatives 
among  this  unlettered  people,  and  aiming  to  educate 
not  their  minds  only,  but  to  elevate  their  moral  natures 
also,  it  early  engaged  in  the  glorious  undertaking  of 
lifting  up  the  lowly  from  the  deeps  of  sin  made 
doubly  dark  by  their  ignorance  and  destitution. 

Other  similar  societies  and  church  organizations  fol- 
lowed.    Schools   by  various   religious  denominations 


ffO  ORIGIN  AJV'D   HISZORT    OF 

were  organized  in  rapid  succession,  and  the  astonished 
eyes  of  the  ex-confederates  saw  with  amazement  that 
their  late  chattels,  personal,  were  actually  possessed  of 
souls  and  minds. 

This  was  the  great  result  of  the  war.  The  army  of 
blue-coated  heroes  who  had  marched  down  to  battle 
with  so  lofty  a  courage  was  succeeded  by  the  army  of 
"  Yankee  schoolmams"  armed  with  the  Bible  and  spell- 
ing-book, who  invaded  the  South  in  as  genuine  a  spirit 
of  heroism,  for  as  patriotic  and  deserving  a  cause,  and 
with  as  triumphant  results,  as  the  grand  army  of  pio- 
neers who  had  led  the  way  and  thrown  down  the 
barriers  of  caste. 

No  eulogium  is  needed  for  them.  They  came  in  the 
name  and  in  the  spirit  of  Jesus,  asking  no  reward, 
looking  not  for  fame,  and  expecting  no  praise  of  men. 
They  enlisted  in  an  humble  cause  to  contend  with  an 
enemy  whose  weapons  were  keener  and  more  relent- 
less than  the  bayonets  of  warriors — the  terrible  giant 
of  public  opinion. 

They  came  to  bring  relief  to  humble  homes,  to  read 
the  blessed  pages  of  the  Bible  to  their  ignorant  but 
gladdened  inmates,  to  breathe  gentle  prayers  beside 
the  bedside  of  the  sick  and  dying,  to  teach  daily  lessons 
of  meekness,  of  charity,  and  of  self  denial,  to  brighten 
the  lot  of  the  poor  and  lowly  by  their  quiet  presence, 
and  above  all  to  tell  them  of  that  Savior  who  had  loved, 
and,  in  loving,  had  died  for  them.  We  will  let  them  tell 
their  own  story  in  their  own  words,  prefacing  it  with 
this  vivid  picture  of  their  personnel,  sketched  by  the 
artist  pen  of  the  gifted  Mrs.  Mary  Clemmer  Ames: 

(    "  Harper's  Ferry,  West  Ya., 

|  December,  1866. 

"  Yesterday,  looking  from  my  window,  I  caught  a 
glimpse  of  'animated  nature,'  which  quickened  with 


new  life  the  repose  caught  from  the  blending  here  of 
ruins,  rocks,  and  rivers.  What  was  it?  It  was  a  small 
procession  of  Yankee  girls,  just  from  the  cars,  coming 
into  Harper's  Ferry,  to  scatter  through  the  valley  of 
Virginia,  as  teachers  of  the  freed-people.  That  was  a 
sight  you  would  have  to  come  all  the  way  to  the  old 
slave-lands  to  appreciate  !  There  they  were — '  the 
teachers  ! '  The  teachers  !  for  whom  Virginians  had 
the  most  chivalric  contempt,  and  the  few  Northern 
hearts  here  the  warmest  greeting. 

"  A  troop  of  maidens,  who,  in  some  undefinable  way, 
suggest  Tennyson's  '  sweet  girl  graduates  with  their 
golden  hair,'  although  I  am  very  sure  that  their  tresses 
are  not  all  of  the  hue  of  the  sun.  I  see  jaunty  hats  and 
natty  jackets,  gay  scarfs  and  graceful  robes.  I  see 
elegance,  beauty  and  youth;  all  come  to  brighten  the 
lot  of  the  lowly,  to  deliver  from  ignorance  and  vice 
that  victim  race  which  our  brothers  with  their  blood 
delivered  from  chains. 

"  Opposite  my  window  they  encounter  a  Virginian 
belle,  arrayed  in  the  splendor  of  a  purple  dress,  a 
scarlet  shawl,  a  green  hat,  and  a  blue  vail.  Her  scorn- 
ful eyes  behold  the  object  which  of  all  others  she 
despises  most — '  a  nigger  teacher.'  What  is  worse,  she 
beholds  more  than  a  dozen  'nigger  teachers'  all  to- 
gether. It  is  a  dreadful,  unbearable  sight,  is  it  not,  my 
dear?  I  suppose  I  ought  to  be  very  sorry  for  you; 
but  I  am  not  sorry  a  bit.  It  is  an  affliction  of  great 
magnitude,  to  be  sure,  that  your  whilom  servants 
should  be  taught  by  better  and  prettier  teachers  than 
you  ever  had  in  your  life ;  but  it  is  a  humiliation  which 
you  will  have  to  bear,  and  the  only  way  that  you  can 
lessen  it  is  to  improve  yourself. 

"  This  old  house,  once  occupied  by  the  superintendent 
of  the  armories  is  now  used  as  the  temporary  abode 
of  the  superintendent  of  the  freed-people's  schools  in 
the  valley  of  the  Shenandoah,  the  Eev.  Mr.  Brackett, 
of  Maine.  In  a  grand  old  room,  defaced  by  war,  yet 
brightened  with  pictures  and  books  from  home,  over- 
looking the  prospect  which  I  just  inadequately  sketched, 
I  saw  yesterday  a  scene  not  to  be  forgotten.     That 


fj9  OftlGIJV  AJTD    HIS 20  ft  Y   OF 

lovely  Sabbath  afternoon  no  church-doors  opened   to 

the  teachers!     With  their  books  in  their  hands,  they 

surrounded  this  wide  room,  holding  a  simple  service  of 

their  own.     A  room  full  of  youthful  women,  far  from 

home    and  all    its  loves,    sang  the   Lord's  song   in  a 

strange  land.     Those  old  walls,  which  within  the  last 

five  years  had  resounded  so  often  to  the  oath  and  jest 

of  dissolute  men,  now  sent  back  the   echoes  of  sweet 

womanly  voices,  through  which  loving  hearts  trembled 

as  they  sang, 

'  Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee, 
Nearer  to  Thee.' 

"Here  was  the  red -lipped  school-girl,  just  from 
school;  here  the  young  widow,  holding  in  tearful  love 
the  memory  of  buried  husband  and  child;  here  were 
women  in  the  prime  of  matured  power,  with  their 
rare  beauty  of  sumptuous  womanhood — women,  whose 
elegance  and  grace  and  line  mentality  would  have  lent 
luster  to  the  highest  sphere.  Such  were  the  teachers 
of  the  freed  slaves,  who  sat  and  knelt  together;  whose 
soft  eyes  dimmed  with  tears  as  they  sang  the  hymns  of 
home,  and  prayed  for  the  blessing  of  God  upon  their 
work.  After  making  due  allowance  for  all  superficial 
enthusiasm  and  the  romance  which  may  be  inseparable 
from  the  womanly  nature  and  missionary  labor,  who 
can  measure  the  significance  of  the  fact  that  hundreds 
of  voung,  gifted  and  cultivated  women  from  the  North 
are  now  scattered  through  the  South  as  teachers  of  its 
former  slaves  ;  and  though  much  against  their  will, 
and  almost  contrary  to  their  knowledge,  teachers  as 
well  of  the  old-time  masters? 

"  All  unconsciously  to  themselves,  in  their  mere 
presence,  these  women  are  educators.  Their  very  ap- 
pearance on  the  street  has  won  the  respect  of  people 
who  at  first  despised  and  hated  them." 

Yes,  retributive  justice  had  at  last  frowned  upon 
Harper's  Ferry,  and  John  Brown's  murder  was 
avenged.     A  correspondent  writes: 

"  Here  is  the  little  Engine-house  which  John  Brown 


AMERICA JV   S.LAYERY.  //<? 

chose  as  his  headquarters  and  his  fortress  when  he  un- 
dertook the  liberation  of  the  Virginian  bondmen,  and 
from  which  he  came  forth  a  wounded  prisoner  on  his 
way  to  the  cell  and  the  scaffold.  Eight  miles  away,  at 
Charlestown,  is  the  battered  and  gutted  Court-house 
where  his  meek  but  sublime  bravery  and  his  simple 
eloquent  words  redeemed  the  trial-scene  from  contempt 
and  rendered  it  historic. 

"  The  great  national  struggle  has  here  a  cloud  of 
witnesses.  All  along  these  slopes  the  white  tents  of 
the  soldiers  might  be  seen  by  day  during  all  the  years 
of  war,  and  when  the  sun  went  down  the  whole  area 
blazed  with  camp-fires  till  they  seemed  like  a  reflection 
of  the  constellations  in  the  sky.  Every  one  of  these 
lofty  high ts  frowned  with  the  ordnance;  all  the  hills 
were  gashed  with  rifle-pits  and  the  wounds  are  yet 
unhealed  ;  in  the  midst  of  that  field  the  hostile  armies 
met  in  the  shock  of  battle.  *  *  * 

"Harper's  Ferry  is  now  the  headquarters  of  our 
missionary  and  educational  work  among  the  freedmen 
in  the  Old  Dominion." 

Another  charming  lady  tells  how  Andersonville 
Prison  was  purified: 

"How  often,  in  the  course  of  my  rambles  among 
missionary  scenes  in  the  South,  have  I  longed  that 
friends,  far,  far  away,  might  see  the  things  that  I  saw. 
Never,  perhaps,  did  I  long  more  intensely  than  last 
Thursday  evening  at  Andersonville.  As  I  stepped  out 
from  night  school  at  half  past  ten  o'clock,  and  stood 
with  the  ladies  in  the  exquisite  moonlight,  watching 
the  patient,  plodding  men  and  women  disperse  to  their 
homes,  how  many  thoughts  crowded  my  mind. 

"  Did  they  ever  imagine,  those  rebel  officers,  who 
used  our  poor  boys  to  erect  those  buildings— buildings 
put  up  to  enable  them  to  hold  30,000  prisoners  in  un- 
heard of  torture— did  they  ever  imagine,  to  what  use 
those  buildings  were  to  be  applied,  and  so  soon?  Did 
they  dream  that  the  wail  of  the  captive  would  scarcely 
be  hushed,  and  the  last  victim  laid  to  sleep  his  last 
sleep  in  those  awful  witness-bearing  trenches,  before 

10 


//4  OXZGIJV  AW&    JTZS10R2    OF 

two  angels  of  mercy  should  take  their  abode  there, 
transforming  that  hell  upon  earth  into  a  little  earthly- 
heaven?  Yes,  Andersonville  has  been  cleaused  and 
sanctified,  and,  thank  God,  by  the  purity,  the  presence, 
the  labor  and  the  love  of  woman.  Where  the  rebel 
soldier's  jeer  and  oath  used  to  be  heard,  now  daily 
ascends  the  sweet  sound  of  prayer  and  praise.  For 
the  howl  of  the  hungry  hound,  eager  to  chase  the 
perishing  Union  fugitive,  you  may  now  hear  the  sweet 
voices  of  the  children  blending  in  song.  The  jailer  has 
fled,  haunted  by  the  memory  of  his  crimes  (for  Wirz 
was  not  alone  in  the  charge),  and  two  gentle  women 
have  taken  possession  of  his  dwelling;  the  persecuted 
slave  has  found  a  shelter  in  the  huts  erected  by  his 
persecutors,  and  the  freedman's  corn  is  now  growing 
in  the  empty  stockade, 

"  Ye  who  dwell  in  luxurious  houses,  who  rest  on 
cushioned  chairs  and  elastic  mattresses,  think  of  your 
sisters  at  Andersonville.  Through  the  severest  part 
of  the  winter,  which  has  been  severe  enough  even  in 
Georgia,  they  have  lived  within  rough  boards  whose 
cracks  let  in  the  cold  in  every  direction,  and  without 
a  single  pane  of  glass  in  the  whole  frames,  so  that  to 
exclude  the  cold  the  light  must  be  excluded  also.  In 
addition  to  this,  they  were  threatened  by  enemies  from 
without,  and  actually  sat  up  one  entire  night  expecting 
their  dwelling  to  be  burned.  Neither  privation,  nor 
loneliness,  nor  threats  could  drive  them  from  their 
post,  and  He  who  walked  with  the  three  children  in 
the  fiery  furnace  has  been  with  them;  they  sat  down 
under  His  shadow  with  great  delight,  and  His  banner 
over  them  was  love.  J.  A,  S." 

Another,  a  teacher  in  the  old  prison,  has  penned 

these  touching  words  in  a  letter  to  a  friend: 

"  You  would  scarcely  know  the  place  were  you  to 
come  here  now.  The  trees  are  heavy  with  the  wealth 
of  foliage,  the  air  resonant  with  the  sweet  song  of 
birds,  and  odorous  with  the  breath  of  flowers.  But  the 
stockade  with  its  silent  tale  of  suffering,  and  the  ceme- 
tery with  its  quiet  sleepers,  are  still  there.    Ander- 


amjericsuv  slayer  r.  //s 

sonville  will  ever  be  to  me  a  memory  of  suffering,  a 
home  of  dead  heroes,  a  planting  of  freedom's  seed.  I 
am  glad  to  have  been  here,  glad  of  the  record  we  shall 
leave — I  only  wish  it  were  more  glorious  with  fruit; 
but  one  soweth  and  another  reapeth.  I  am  content 
with  sowing  and  with  the  evidence  of  life  in  the  seed. 
It  is  germinating;  already  the  mellowed  soil  is  break- 
ing from  the  struggles  of  the  embryo  which  wants 
light  and  air.  We  have  but  to  lay  our  ear  to  the 
earth,  to  hear  the  swelling  and  the  struggling  of  the 
new  life  beneath.  A  few  more  rains  of  love,  a  few 
more  dews  of  mercy,  a  few  more  suns  of  grace,  and  the 
blade  will  appear  :  after  that,  the  going  on  from 
strength  to  strength  till  the  harvest  time  shall  come. 
Oh !  it  has  been  good  to  work  here.  I  thank  God  for 
it  and  the  rich  experience  it  has  brought!" 

Yes,  we  will  let  the  teachers*  tell  their  own  story  in 
little  fragments  of  letters,  written  for  the  most  part 
with  no  thought  of  publication.  Sweet  sisters,  if  at 
first  you  feel  inclined  to  blame  the  hand  that  seemingly 
betrays  your  confidence,  reflect  that  it  is  not  your- 
selves but  the  grace  given  unto  you  that  we  would  fain 
perpetuate,  and  you  must,  perforce,  forgive. 

Another  teacher  gives  the  following  statement: 

"  This  is  the  Andersonville  of  dreadful  memory — a 
place  made  sacred  by  the  dust  of  sixteen  thousand 
martyred  heroes — a  place  at  whose  mention  patriotic 
hearts  throb  with  new  impulse;  for  here  was  wrought 
out  most  visibly  the  spirit  of  the  system  which  has  so 
cursed  our  land  with  its  presence.  Here  our  brave 
men  were  distressed,  persecuted,  murdered,  and  here 
we  institute  our  plan  of  revenge. 

"  Our  school  began — in  spite  of  threatenings  from 
the  whites,  and  the  consequent  fears  of  the  blacks — with 
twenty-seven  pupils,  four  only  of  whom  could  read, 
even  the  simplest  word.  At  the  end  of  six  weeks,  we 
have  enrolled  eighty-five  names,  with  but  fifteen  unable 

*  Of  the  American  Missionary  Association. 


//#  0X1GIJV  oiJVD    JETIS2 OR Y   OF 

to  read.  In  seven  years'  teaching  at  the  North,  1  have 
not  seen  a  parallel  to  their  appetite  for  learning,  and 
their  active  progress.  Whether  this  zeal  will  abate 
with  time  is  yet  a  question.  I  have  a  little  fear  that 
it  may.  Meanwhile  it  is  well  to  '  work  while  the  day 
lasts.'  Their  spirit  now  may  be  estimated  somewhat, 
when  I  tell  you  that  three  walk  a  distance  of  four 
miles,  each  morning,  to  return  after  the  five  hours' 
session.  Several  come  three  miles,  and  quite  a  number 
from  two-and-a-half  miles. 

"  The  night  school,  taught  by  Miss  E ,  numbers 

about  forty,  mostly  men,  earnest,  determined,  ambitious. 
One  of  them  walks  six  miles,  and  returns  after  the  close 
of  the  school,  which  is  often  as  late  as  ten  o'clock.  One 
woman  walks  three  miles,  as  do  a  number  of  the  men. 

"  On  Sabbath  mornings,  at  half-past  nine,  we  open 
our  Sabbath-school,  which  is  attended  by  about  fifty 
men,  women  and  children  who  give  earnest  attention 
to  our  instruction.  The  younger  ones  are  given  to  the 
charge  of  '  Uncle   Charlie,'    a   good    old    negro   who 

wants  to  do  something  to  help.     Miss  E takes  the 

women,  and  leaves  the  men  to  my  care.  As  they  are 
unable  to  read,  we  take  a  text  or  passage  of  Scripture, 
enlarge  upon  and  apply  it  as  well  as  we  are  able, 
answering  their  questions,  correcting  erroneous  opin- 
ions, extending  their  thoughts,  and  endeavoring  to 
bring  their  souls  from  nature^s  daikness  to  the  mar- 
velous light  of  God's  truth.  Their  views  of  the  sacred- 
ness  of  life,  its  object,  or  of  true  living,  are  extremely 
limited;  they  need  instruction  absolutely  in  every- 
thing." 

The  same  lady  narrates  this  touching  incident: 

"  A  few  weeks  since,  I  read  from  the  '  Child  at 
Home,'  an  article  entitled  '  No  more  Slaves  in  Amer- 
ica,' which  closes  with  Whittier's  '  Laus  Deo.'  As  I 
announced  the  title,  every  eye  was  fixed  on  me  with  a 
look  of  eager  interest,  and  as  the  reading  continued, 
tears  began  to  flow — tears  of  joy  and  gladness — and 
from  several  directions  we  heard,  '  Thank  God!  Thank 
Godl' 


"As  I  concluded  the  poem,  poor,  old,  sick  'Uncle 
Charlie'  slid  from  his  seat  to  his  knees,  and  with 
clasped  hands  and  streaming  eyes,  looking  toward 
heaven,  cried,  'Oh!  glory,  glory  to  God  for  what  he 
has  done  for  us  wretched  people!  Praise  to  God!'  And 
so  our  school  closed. 

"  Thinking  that  the  tribute  to  the  spirit  of  the  poem 
might  do  good  to  the  heart  of  the  author,  I  wrote  at 
once  the  simple  story  to  John  G.  Whittier,  and  after  a 
few  days  received  an  autograph  letter  from  him,  thank- 
ing me  for  the  facts,  and  saying,  'Uncle  Charlie's 
prayer  is  worth  more  to  me  than  the  praise  of  all  the 
oppressors  of  his  race,'  and  inclosing  a  sum  of  money 
for  Uncle  Charlie  ;  if  he  needs  it.'  " 

From  another  teacher  we  have  the  following: 

"  I  write  to  inform  you  of  the  close  of  the  season  at 
Andersonville.  The  numbers  in  the  schools  were  well 
sustained,  while  the  desire  for  learning  was  not  a  whit 
less  the  last  week  than  the  very  first. 

"  In  the  night  school  great  interest  and  diligence  have 
been  manifest.  By  the  fire-light,  and  often  till  eleven 
o'clock,  those  determined  ones  toiled  through  the  sea- 
son, to  find  the  reward  of  their  perseverance  in  being 
able  to  read  for  themselves  '  de  bressed  Word.' 

"  Our  Sabbath-school  has  increased  in  numbers  and 
interest.  Every  seat,  every  window,  and  sometimes 
the  door  steps  have  been  crowded.  All  seemed  quiet, 
eager,  earnest.  Although  we  have  no  great  visible 
work  of  grace  to  report,  still  we  speak  what  we  do 
know  when  we  say  that  the  Spirit  has  been  in  Ander- 
sonville, working  silently  but  surely  in  the  hearts  of 
those  most  constant  at  Sunday-school  and  prayer-meet- 
ing. One  young  man,  whose  course  we  have  watched 
from  the  first,  told  us  in  our  last  meeting,  '  I  feels  like 
I  love  Jesus;  I  not  only  feels  like  it;  I  do  love  him!' 
and  certainly  no  one  who  knows  him  will  doubt  it. 
Another  bore  witness  to  the  strivings  of  the  still  small 
voice;  and  yet  another  said:  'I  hasn't  yet  foun'  de 
Lord,  but  hope  he'll  soon  find  me.'  Many  others  have 
their  hearts  open  to  good  influences.     May  the  work 


//<?  oniG&v  sij\n>  sisTonr  of 

be  a  sure  work,  laid   on  the  sure  foundation — Jesus 
Christ! 

"  We  have  said  good-by  to  Andersonville.  but  more 
than  any  other  will  that  place  be  remembered,  for 
there  we  have  felt  more  than  elsewhere  that  '  God  is 
our  refuge  and  strength.'  " 

Another  furnishes  the  following: 

"  Wild  Thorn  (near  Savannah). 
"  I  had  anticipated  a  most  cordial  welcome,  but  was 
not  prepared  for  the  demonstrations  of  joy  which  I 
witnessed.  The  people  were  expecting  us,  because 
they  had  been  praying  for  our  return.  The  first  ex- 
pression from  almost  every  one  was  thanksgiving  to 
God  for  answering  their  prayers.  Old  Aunt  Rhina, 
whose  head  is  frosted  by  age,  and  her  feet  so  swollen 
that  you  would  not  think  she  could  walk  on  them, 
came  almost  running  from  her  cabin.  I  went  to  meet 
her.  Her  first  words  were:  '  O!  bress  de  Lord,  you's 
come.  My  eyes  is  so  proud  to  see  you  once  more. 
Ise  prayed  lor  you  ebery  day.'  Others  exclaimed, 
'  Bressed  Jesus,  you  heard  my  prayer,  and  I  have  saw 
my  teachers  once  more.'  One  old  man  said,  '  I  seen 
you,  I  seen  you.  I  know'd  you  was  coming.  De  Lord 
showed  you  to  me  all  ready  to  come.'  " 

A  minister  writes  from  Beaufort,  South  Carolina : 

"To-day  we  need  a  thousand  added  to  our  corps  of 
teachers.  Applications  came  in  from  every  quarter  for 
books  and  teachers.  All  around  us  the  freedmen  are 
struggling  hard  against  poverty,  some  against  actual 
starvation,  yet  they  beg  harder  for  a  school  than  for 
food  or  clothing.  No  philosophy  can  account  for  this 
intense  thirst  for  education,  only  to  say  that  God  is 
here;  that  God  can  rouse  a  nation  to  wants  unknown 
before,  to  thirst  for  waters  never  yet  tasted.  Oh! 
that  those  who  love  the  Master  might  comprehend  the 
extent  of  the  work.  A  million  of  sable  children  thirst- 
ing for  mental  life!" 

This  is  from  a  lady  teacher  in  Milledgeville,  Georgia : 


siMJEJRlCA JV*   SLAYER?*  1J9 

"  I  wish  I  could  say  the  ladies  here  had  treated  us 
with  the  kindness  and  respect  that  the  gentlemen  have, 
but  it  is  impossible  to  say  this,  because  it  is  untrue. 
They  shrink  from  contact  with  us  in  the  street,  point 
us  out,  and  stare  at  us  in  church,  evidently  desiring  to 
annoy,  and  make  us  uncomfortable.  It  is  very  obvious 
to  us  that  the  women  of  the  South  are  greater  rebels 
than  the  men.  'They  have  not  been  whipped.'  We 
find  our  work  so  pleasant  and  satisfying,  however,  that 
we  can  well  put  up  with  some  unpleasant  things.  We 
are  more  than  paid  for  slights  and  insults  by  the  grate- 
ful tears  and  prayers  of  these  humble  children  of  our 
blessed  Lord  and  Savior." 

Another  adds  her  testimony  as  follows : 

"  We  shall  ever  look  back  with  pleasure  upon  the 
days  spent  in  teaching  the  colored  people  of  Baton 
Rouge,  and  I  should  be  very  glad  if  health  would  allow 
us  to  prosecute  the  good  work  there. 

"I  feel  extremely  anxious  for  the  prosperity  of  this 
great  work  among  the  victims  of  oppression,  and,  from 
my  experience  among  them,  am  fully  satisfied  there  is 
no  nobler  and  more  encouraging  field  in  which  wise 
and  Christian  men  and  women  can  engage." 

From  Halletsville,  Georgia,  the  lady  teacher  writes: 

"News  of  my  arrival  spread  rapidly  through  the 
community,  among  whites  and  blacks,  and  as  the 
latter  had  been  in  anxious  expectation  of  that  event 
for  several  days,  they  were  now  perfectly  delighted 
that  the  teacher  had  really  come,  and  very  soon  mani- 
fested their  appreciation  by  calling  at  the  room,  send- 
ing up  bouquets,  etc.  This  is  the  first  freedmen's  school 
ever  organized  in  the  county,  and  the  people  were 
very  bitterly  opposed  to  it,  making  numerous  terrible 
threats  as  to  what  would  be  done  if  an  attempt  were 
made  to  open  a  school;  but  on  Monday,  April  15th, 
the  school  commenced  and  has  continued  through  the 
month  without  molestation;  however,  I  attribute  my 
peace  and  safety,  not  so  much  to  the  kind  considera- 
tion of  the  citizens,  as  to  their  want  of  power. 


J20  ORIGIJV  siJVD    HISTORY    OF 

"  Our  school-house  consists  of  an  old  shell  of  a  build- 
ing with  no  ceiling  overhead,  and  had  no  lining  what- 
ever, until  the  agent,  fitting  it  up  for  a  School-room, 
had  the  walls  lined  with  canvas.  The  seats  are  benches 
such  as  the  colored  people  have  hewn  out  in  the  woods, 
consequently  quite  rough.  For  windows  we  have  close 
blinds,  which  must  be  opened  in  order  to  have  suffi- 
cient light,  though  considerable  is  admitted  through 
the  numerous  openings  in  the  walls.  I  have  now,  in 
school,  forty-five  pupils,  and  expect  an  increase  in 
number  next  month.  Many  of  the  scholars  come  in 
from  the  country,  from  distances  varyiDg  from  two  to 
eight  miles,  though  those  living  farthest  from  town 
generally  stay  in  the  village  from  Monday  until  Friday. 
But  one  comes  from  a  distance  of  five,  and  quite  a 
number  from  three  miles,  walking  each  morning,  and 
returning  after  a  five  hours'  session.  Many  of  them 
manifest  great  eagerness  to  learn,  and  are  earnest  in 
effort.  When  school  commenced  there  were  only  four 
that  could  read,  even  the  simplest  words.  Now,  at  the 
end  of  two  weeks,  I  enrolled  more  than  half  the  school 

ABLE  TO  READ. 

"  The  colored  people  here,  in  town,  have  no  houses 
of  their  own,  but  are  still  the  servants  of  white  families, 
which  render  my  visiting  among  them  impracticable, 
to  say  the  least.  I  think  the  people  in  this  section  of 
the  country,  particularly,  have  suffered  much  from  the 
hatred  of  their  late  masters,  and  are  still  suffering, 
though  their  condition  is  gradually  improving.  Quite 
a  number  have  been  murdered.  One  old  'Aunty'  told 
me  that  her  husband  was  shot  while  asleep,  soon  after 
they  were  freed — shot  for  being  free. 

"I  have  organized  a  Sabbath-school,  which  is  at- 
tended by  men,  women,  and  children,  all  seeming  inter- 
ested and  attentive." 

Another  says : 

"  Darlington,  July  1st,  1867. 

"  My  work  this  month  has  been  very  encouraging. 
The  scholars  improve  rapidly  and  are  much  inter- 
ested in  their  lessons.     On  the  20th  we  had  an  exami- 


siMEHlCAJV    SLAVERY*  72f 

nation;  the  proceeds  were  for  thejbenefit  of  the  school. 
It  passed  off  very  creditably.  A  number  of  white 
Marylanders  deigned  their  presence,  who,  in  spite  of 
past  and  present  prejudices,  expressed  their  surprise 
and  satisfaction  with  the  system  on  which  our  school 
was  conducted,  and  the  promptness  of  recitations,  espe- 
cially in  arithmetic,  which  they  thought  they  had  never 
seen  excelled  by  such  small  children.  I  was  gratified 
to  think  they  spoke  particularly^  of  ^this  branch  of 
study,  for  by  their  manner  I  was  assured  they  were 
among  those  who  believe  in  the  oft-repeated  assertion 
of  the  incapacity  of  the  negro  to  acquire  a  knowledge 
of  arithmetic.  So  these  little  ones  in  their  humble 
sphere  made  some  converts,  besides  causing  their 
parents  to  thank  God  and  take  courage,  that  they  had 
lived  to  see  the  dawn  of  better  days." 

A  brave  young  woman  writes  from  Savannah,  Geor- 
gia: 

"  I  can  hardly  tell  whether  I  have  really  been  in 
much  danger  or  not,  but  I  truly  believe  m}Tself  to  be, 
and  I  know  that  nothing  but  my  being  a  lady,  and 
utterly  without  protection,  saved  me.  Bad  as  they 
were,  they  could  not  quite  make  up  their  minds  to 
take  a  woman  out  of  her  house  and  whip  her,  as  they 
threatened  to  do." 

Another  says : 

"  The  children  sing  with  a  spirit  and  sweetness  that 
is  heart-satisfying.  I  defy  any  Northern  skeptic  to 
spend  an  hour  in  my  school  and  depart  unconvinced 
thftt  Southern  negroes  are  endowed  with  not  merely 
common,  but  very  noble  manhood." 

And  still  another: 

UI  know  of  no  greater  field  for  usefulness,  and  no 
happier  work,  than  is  to  be  found  among  this  people, 
and  I  would  gladly  spend  my  life  in  such  a  work." 

A  lady  in  Milledgeville,  Georgia,  says  truthfully: 

"  I  think  the  Christian,  or  rather  the  religious  com- 
11 


722  OIiIGIjY  AJV^)    HISTORY    OF 

munity  here,  feel  mortified,  that  they  have  in  their 
midst  so  ignorant  a  people,  and  it  really  sounds  very 
inconsistent  on  a  Sabbath  morning  to  listen  to  the 
earnest  prayers  which  the  Presbyterian  minister  never 
fails  to  offer,  for  the  success  of  the  missionaries  labor- 
ing for  the  salvation  of  the  heathen — one  feels  instinct- 
ively that  his  thoughts  are  across  the  sea — that  his 
heathen  live  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges,  or  in  some 
foreign  climate.  Among  the  thoughtless,  the  educa- 
tion of  the  freedmen  is  a  special  abhorrence,  and  an 
object  of  supreme  contempt." 

From  Baltimore  a  lady  writes: 

"  One  day,  our  little  ones  were  listening  to  the  story 
of  Ananias  and  Sapphira.  On  being  asked  why  God 
does  not  strike  everybody  dead  who  tells  a  lie,  one  of 
the  least  in  the  room  quickly  replied  :  'Because  there 
wouldn't  be  anybody  left.'  This  afforded  the  teacher 
an  opportunity  for  impressing  those  little  hearts  with 
the  love  and  patience  of  God,  and  with  the  meaning 
of  that  precious  word  grace;  and  many  listened  as  if 
it  were  the  first  time  they  had  heard  of  such  things, 
and  their  eyes  grew  brighter  and  their  faces  seemed 
happier.  How  sacred  the  teacher's  work,  and  how 
precious  her  reward!" 

From  Mississippi  another  writes: 

"  Sometimes  I  attend  the  cabin  prayer-meetings. 
In  these,  of  course,  the  wild,  quaint  modes  of  worship 
which  prevailed  in  the  olden  time  of  slavery,  are  some- 
what prominent;  still  I  have  often  found  them  pre- 
cious seasons,  and  felt  that  God  was  there.  I  went  to 
Aunt  P.'s  cabin  the  other  night.  It  was  early  when  I 
arrived,  but  a  few  converts  were  shaking  hands  with 
older  professors,  and  relating  their  experience.  A 
single  tallow  candle  threw  a  dim,  uncertain  light  over 
the  room,  half  revealing  the  wooden  benches  and  scat- 
tered occupants.  The  cabin  walls  were  adorned  with 
a  few  prints — among  them  the  immortal  Lincoln — and 
with  old  copies  of  the  Freedman  and  Wellspring.  A  log 
fire  was  blazing  on  the  hearth.     It  was  a  strange  but 


siMERlCAJV    SLAVERY.  t23 

impressive  scene — that  lowly  cabin  with  its  group  of 
dark-browed  worshipers,  the  constant  hand-shaking, 
and  the  measured  rise  and  fall  of  the  convert's  song: 
'  I  am  free;  I  am  free  indeed.  He  has  taken  my  feet 
from  the  miry  clay,  and  placed  them  on  the  Rock  of 
eternal  ages,  where  the  winds  may  blow  and  the  waters 
roll,  but  nothing  shall  ever  disturb  my  soul.' 

"  It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  widely-varying 
notes  and  long-drawn  syllables  of  this  half-chant,  halt- 
song,  as  it  rose  and  fell  in  that  humble  cabin.  Some- 
times it  took  the  form  of  an  address  to  the  impenitent, 
and  then  it  was  full  of  solemn  warning. 

11  Meantime  the  cabin  became  thronged.  Singing 
and  prayer  alternated.  As  some  of  the  hymns  went 
up  with  a  mighty  chant,  it  seemed  as  if  that  humble 
roof  must  be  lifted  from  its  place.  The  prayers  wece 
full  of  quaint  expressions,  but  were  earnest  and  simple. 
One  brother  prayed,  '  O  Lord  !  please  to  hist  the 
diamond  winders  of  hebben,  an'  shake  out  dy  table- 
cloth, and  let  a  few  crumbs  fall  among  us.'  Another 
plead  for  '  de  mourners,  'way  down  in  de  lonesome 
valley,  where  de  sun  nebber  shines.'  Another  asked 
God  to  «  open  de  diamond  winders,  lay  back  de  lovely 
curtains,  an'  take  a  peep  into  dis  world  of  sin  an' 
sorrer.' 

"  Toward  the  close  of  the  evening  I  read  part  of  a 
chapter,  and  spoke  for  a  few  minutes.  All  gave  earnest 
attention.  After  the  benediction  most  of  those  present 
remained  to  sing.  Verse  after  verse  of  those  old  plan- 
tation songs  was  chanted,  every  voice  joining  in  the 
mighty  chorus : 

"  I  am  huntin'  for  a  city, 
Where  pleasure  never  dies: 
Come  mourner,  come  mourner, 
Where  pleasure  never  dies." 

"  As  I  walked  home  in  the  beautiful  moonlight,  I 
could  but  think  that  perhaps  God  was  as  well  pleased 
with  that  lowly  group  in  the  humble  cabin,  as  with 
many  a  gilded  throng  in  splendid  cathedrals. '* 

Another,  also  from  Mississippi,  testifies  as  follows: 


tau  oniG&v  AND  HisTonr  of 

"  But  what  is  better  than  all  this,  a  deep  quiet  work 
of  grace  is  in  progress,  extending  almost  over  the 
entire  colored  population,  and  to  some  of  the  colored 
regiments  stationed  there.  The  work  is  characterized 
by  great  stillness  with  a  corresponding  earnestness. 
Several  of  my  pupils  are  indulging  hopes,  and  others 
are  inquiring.  We  are  greatly  encoimi,ged  and  re- 
freshed .  .  .  God  follows  his  work  of  justice  with 
his  work  of  grace." 

From  a  Baltimorean  lady  : 

"  Baltimore,  May  28,  1365. 
"I  have  just  returned  from  the  Hospital  where  are 
our  sick  and  wounded  colored  soldiers,  many  of  whom 
I  find  to  be  from  Kentucky  and  Missouri.  A  few  of 
them  can  read.  In  distributing  books  among  them  I 
would  ask,  '  Can  you  read?'  the  answer  would  be  ' No 
mam,  but  I'm  trying  to,'  or  'I'm  learning  fast,'  or 
*  I  can  spell  a  bit,'  etc.  All  were  anxious  10  have  a 
prettily  bound  book.  These  men  are  of  all  shades  of 
color,  from  very  black  to  almost  white.  Most  of  them 
are  in  some  way  crippled;  having  lost  either  an  arm 
or  leg.  As  I  watched  their  coming  into  church  on 
their  crutches,  as  I  saw  their  earnest  and  devout  atten- 
tion, the  intelligence  manifested  in  their  engaging  in 
the  different  parts  of  worship,  their  bright  fates  lighted 
up  in  singing  praises  to  their  Great  Deliverer,  as  if 
they  felt  that  they  were  now  freemen  before  the  law, 
the  uniform  designating  them  as  set  apart  to  fight  the 
battles  of  the  country — theirs  now  as  well  as  the  white 
man's — [  thought,  can  there  be  found  a  man  who 
would  dare  deny  these  men  the  rignt  of  suffrage  or 
any  other  privilege  which  freemen  have?  If  so,  God 
will  by  some  other  judgment  teach  us  His  will." 

From  Louisiana: 

"  Nor  alone  does  the  voice  of  duty  or  personal  profit 
invite.  There  is  a  pure  and  exquisite  pleasure  to  be 
found  in  this  work,  that  few  other  forms  of  Christian 
effort  afford. 

«'  Even  the  old  gray-haired  men  and  women   plod 


along  with  their  alphabet,  with  the  hope  that,  ere  they 
die,  they  may  be  able  k  to  read  out  of  de  good  book 
what  de  Lord  nays,  for  demselves  '  It  is  touching  to 
hear  their  expressions  of  devotion  and  trust,  they  are 
eo  simple  and  sincere." 

From  "Virginia : 

'*  One  of  the  most  beautiful  instances  of  the  power  of 
grace  that  I  have  seen,  is  an  old  woman,  who  in  a  few 
months  will  be  one  hundred.  She  is  entirely  blind, 
but  her  mind  seems  clear  and  strong.  She  is  living  in 
sweet  reliance  on  Christ  from  day  to  day,  chiefly  de- 
sirous that  His  will  be  done.  It  is  a  privilege  to  talk 
with  her.  She  is  delighted  in  hearing  the  Bible  read, 
and  with  religious  conversation,  even  her  aged  sight- 
less lace  then  becomes  animated,  and  beams  with  an 
expression  that  could  only  originate  in  a  heart  en- 
riched by  the  Savior's  love.  All  her  life  in  the  prison 
and  mire  of  slavery,  branded  by  prejudice,  never  per- 
mitted to  read  the  Word  of  God  for  herself,  feeble,  soon 
expecting  the  summons — in  her  hundredth  year — bHnd, 
yet  triumphing  in  her  risen  Savior.  What  a  witness 
to  the  beauty  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  victory  that  is  in 
Christ. 

A  teacher  in  Maryland  thus  writes  of  her  pupils: 

"They  are  remarkably  susceptible  to  religious  im- 
pressions and  religious  instruction;  readily  commit  to 
memory  passages  from  tie  Bible,  little  hym<  s  and 
prayers.  I  have  taught  them  the  fundamental  doc- 
trine of  our  holy  Christianity,  simplified  to  their  ca- 
pacities, hoping  that  from  the  seed  sown,  a  harvest 
will  be  gathered  to  the  divine  glory.  God  has  given 
me  great  sympathy  for  them.  I  have  been  the  reposi- 
tory of  their  perplexities,  cares  and  griefs;  and  much 
of  the  time  between  the  afternoon  session  and  dark, 
I  have  spent  in  their  tents,  visiting  the  sick,  distribu- 
ting clothing,  etc." 

Another  says: 

"  Our  work  here  has  its  fruits,  even  now,  and  we 
believe  that  the  harvest  of  which  the  first-fruits  are 


726  0 RIGHT   siJ^D    HIS 2 012 1    OF 

now  given,  will  be  a  very  bounteous  one.  But  not  unto 
ns  be  the  glory.  It  is  God's  work,  and  it  is  indeed  mar- 
velous in  our  eyes." 

Another  lady  writes: 

"  I  have  always  been  taught  to  abhor  slavery,  but 
never,  until  I  came  among  its  victims,  did  I  know  any- 
thing of  the  blasting  effects  of  that  system;  and  the 
more  I  became  acquainted  with  these  people,  the  more 
do  I  realize  the  great  work  that  is  to  be  accomplished 
before  their  souls  are  brought  from  natural  darkness 
into  the  marvelous  light  of  God's  truth.  Their  ideas 
of  life,  its  sacredness  or  true  purpose,  are  exceedingly 
limited.     They  need  instruction  in  everything." 

A  young  girl  writes  to  a  friend: 

"  I  enjoy  more,  day  by  day,  with  my  scholars.  They 
have  come  to  seem  more  like  a  family  than  a  school,  so 
well  have  I  learned  the  character,  the  desires,  the  life 
of  each — so  much  do  they  depend  upon  me  for  advice 
in  their  home  affairs.  The  days  spent  in  that  little 
school-room  will  always  be  sunny  in  memory,  through 
however  long  or  bright  a  way  I  may  look  back  to 
them." 

A  Christian  woman  writes  prayerfully: 

"  We  want  no  philosophy  of  the  head  and  infidelity 
of  the  heart  in  our  instructions.  Our  work  shall  be 
moral  as  well  as  mental,  and  the  elements  of  a  Chris- 
tian faith  shall  inspire  u&.  We  are  laboring  for  God 
as  well  as  man — for  the  future  as  well  as  the  present — 
for  the  elevation  of  the  soul  as  well  as  the  mind. 

"  We  will  try  to  do  our  duty  in  the  fear  of  God, 
trusting  in  his  care  over  us,  and  the  efficacy  he  may 
give  to  our  vineyard  operations." 

A  delicate  lady  thus  describes  her  school-room: 

"  The  school-house  is  one  that  has  been  provided  by 
the  freed  men,  and  a  very  indifferent  one  it  is.  A  part 
of  the  floor  in  the  center  of  the  room  is  bare  ground, 
on  which  sat  a  little  old  cooking-stove,  used  to  warm 


riME'RlCAJf    SLAVERY.  127 

the  room.  The  roof  of  the  houso  was  covered  with 
shingles,  but  the  light  was  shining  through  in  many 
places;  and  should  it  rain,  water  could  easily  come 
through.  Its  windows  were  open  holes  in  its  sides, 
and  should  it  storm,  there  would  be  no  light  there,  for 
the  shutters  must  then  be  closed." 

We  make  the  following  extracts  from  the  journal  of 
a  teacher  at  Columbus,  Kentucky: 

"  I  had  in  my  school  at  Columbus  a  strange,  half- 
witted child,  who  by  virtue  of  her  supposed  idiocy  was 
allowed  to  go  where  she  pleased,  and  spent  the  greater 
part  of  her  time  wandering  alone  by  the  riverside, 
gathering  little  shells  and  pebbles,  talking  to  herself 
all  the  while  in  a  weird,  most  unchildlike  way. 

"  '  Mandy  '  at  length  began  to  come  to  school,  but 
refused  to  study  or  even  to  play  with  the  other  chil- 
dren, most  of  whom  seemed  rather  afraid  of  her. 

"She  would  sit  for  hours  as  if  spell-bound,  her  large 
wild  eyes  fastened  on  my  face  with  an  intensity  of 
gaze  that  pained  me,  eagerly  watching  my  every  move- 
ment, and  occasionally  putting  out  her  hand  timidly 
to  touch  the  folds  of  my  dress  as  I  passed  her  seat. 

"  She  would  never  answer  any  question,  but  when 
I  spoke  to  her  would  close  her  eyes  and  seem  to  listen 
attentively.  I  could  make  nothing  of  the  shy,  shrink- 
ing child,  and  was  for  a  time  at  a  loss  to  account  for 
her  singular  behavior.  I  had  often  observed  her  sitting 
quite  still  and  gazing  steadily  up  into  the  clouds,  mut- 
tering to  herself,  as  was  her  wont  when  alone.  One  day 
I  came  upon  her  thus  engaged,  and  began  to  question 
her.  For  some  time  she  made  no  reply,  but  at  length 
suddenly  opening  her  eyes  and  pointing  to  the  sky 
said  rapidly,  'I  don't  see  no  hole;  I  don't  see  no 
hole!'  Completely  puzzled,  I  said,  '  What  do  you  mean, 
Mandy?  What  hole  are  you  looking  for?'  '  Why, 
Miss  Linnie,'  she  said  impatiently,  '  didn't  you  make 
a  hole  in  de  sky  when  you  cumed  down?'  I  told  her 
I  did  not  come  down  from  the  sky,  that  I  lived  '  up 
North,'  and  had  come  down  the  river  in  a  steamboat, 
when  she    spoke  again  more  rapidly,    '  Miss  Linnie, 


f23  QfilGMT    *Urt)  fflSlORl     OJP 

isn't  you  an  angel?  "Uncle  Pete  say  you  is  an  angel, 
and  1  tot  angels  lib  up  in  de  sky.  Didn't  you  lib 
where  God  stays  'fore  you  eumed  here?' 

"  This  then  was  the  secret  of  my  silent  little  wor- 
shiper's infatuation!  Uncle  Pete,  in  his  gratitude  for 
his  new  spelling-book  and  Sunday  coat,  had  likened 
me  to  an  angel,  and  poor  Mandy  had  interpreted  him 
literally.  Never  shall  I  forget  her  grieved  look  of 
disappointment  when  I  told  her  that  I  was  not  an 
angel,  but  only  a  sinful,  naughty  child  like  herself; 
that  I  had  never  seen  God,  but  He  had  promised  us 
both,  if  we  loved  him,  to  take  us  up  to  heaven  when 
we  died,  where  we  would  see  him  always.  She  walked 
away  slowly,  with  large  tears  rolling  down  her  cheeks, 
and  after  that  she  seldom  came  to  school,  but  though 
she  seemed  less  afraid  of  me,  yet  all  my  efforts  to  in- 
duce her  to  return  proved  unavailing.  '  I  dos'nt  luba 
you  any  more,'  she  said  plaintively;  nor  ever  alter 
would  she  enter  into  conversation  with  me. 

"  One  morning  on  my  way  to  school  I  met  some  men 
carrying  upon  a  rough  plank  the  dripping  form  of  a 
child,  in  whose  stiffened  lineaments  I  recognized  my 
poor  little  protege.  She  had  slipped  from  the  bank 
into  the  river  and  was  drowned.  J  hastened  onward 
with  a  saddened  heart,  but  poor  Mandy  I  trust  has 
seen  the  angels,  and  is  living  'where  God  stays.' 

"  This  feeling  of  pride  of  color  never  was  more 
strikingly  illustrated  than  in  the  case  of  an  old  Irish 
woman,  whose  dilapidated  shanty  in  one  of  my  morn- 
ing rounds  I  had  mistaken  for  a  negro  cabin.  The 
good  woman,  with  her  shockheaded  brood  of  young 
Patricks,  was  just  sitting  down  to  a  smoking  breakfast 
of  praties  and  mush,  and  as  I  looked  in  at  the  door 
greeted  me  volubly  :  *  And  would  yees  be  after  coming 
in  and  taking  a  bite  wid  us  the  morning?  Shure,  and 
its  not  often  the  likes  of  yees  comes  into  me  poor 
house.  Tim,  yee  spalpeen,  git  off  of  yer  cheer  I'  And 
administering  a  sound  box  on  the  ear  of  the  abashed 
youngster,  she  wiped  the  chair  he  had  just  vacated 
with  her  dingy  apron  and  hospitably  insisted  on  my 
coming  in  and  sharing  the  meal  with  them,  until  I 


AMERICAN    SLAYER r.  f29 

make  her  comprehend  that  I  was  the  teacher  of  the 
colored  people  and  had  mistaken  her  house  for  the 
residence  of  Aunt  VVinnie,  when  her  sudden  change  of 
countenance  and  attitude  was  ludicrous  in  the  extreme. 
'Aunt  Botherydab!  Divil  run  away  with  yees,  to  be 
after  takin  the  likes  of  me  for  a  nagur!  Git  away 
from  me  house,  ye  pinkfaced  hussey!'  As  the  com- 
mand was  emphasized  with  a  heavy  stamp  of  her  foot 
and  a  lengthened  stride  in  my  direction,  I  lost  no  time 
in  making  good  my  retreat,  not  daring  to  laugh  or  even 
stop  to  take  breath  until  I  had  put  a  safe  distance 
between  us.  Ever  afterward  we  exercised  great  cir- 
cumspection in  our  visits,  and  on  one  occasion,  when, 
in  response  to  our  knock,  a  sharp-featured  white 
woman  appeared  at  the  cabin  door,  my  heart  leaped 
up  in  my  throat,  and  I  stood  speechless  before  her. 
'  Does  Mrs.  Jones  live  here?'  asked  my  companion  with 
remarkable  presence  of  mind.  'No,  marm,  she  don't 
live  nowhars  in  the  street  as  I  knows  on,'  was  the 
prompt  response,  and  politely  bidding  her  'good  morn- 
ing,' we  went  our  way  congratulating  ourselves  on 
the  success  of  our  ruse. 

"  But  how  many  of  our  Northern  people  could  sym- 
pathize with  this  pride  of  Mrs.  Biddy's  and  feel  that 
color  is  the  only  distinction  between  themselves  and 
the  negro?  Poor  creatures!  Let  them  enjoy  their 
fancied  superiority!  They  have  nothing  else  to  be 
proud  of  !" 

"  The  daily  life  of  a  teacher  in  the  South  is  rep'ete 
with  amusing  incident  and  grotesque  adventure.  Once 
during  a  time  of  danger  I  was  prevailed  upon  to  carry 
a  loaded  pistol  in  my  pocket  to  night  school;  h-ut  once 
arrived  there,  and  finding  no  cause  for  alarm,  I  be^me 
terribly  afraid  of  it  that  1  scarcely  dared  to  stir  or  even 
breathe  lest  it  should  explode  in  my  pocket,  and  even 
a  rebel  would  have  been  a  relief. 

"Another  night  we  were  awakened  by  a  suspicious 
rattling  at  one  of  our  windows,  and  clinging  closely 
together  for  protection,  we  stole  out  frightened  and 
breathless  across  the  hall  to  the  door  of  Lieutenant 
B 'a  room,  and  aroused  him  with  the  startling  in- 


/so  origin  AND  Hisronr  of 

telligence  that  a  man  was  trying  to  effect  an  entrance 
at  our  window!  The  good  lieutenant,  in  an  undress 
uniform,  and  with  a  pistol  in  each  hand,  made  a  hasty 
reconnoissance  around  the  corner  of  the  house,  and 
returned  shortly  after  in  no  very  pleasant  mood  to 
inform  us  that  it  was  nothing  but  an  old  cavalry  horse 
affectionately  rubbing  his  head  against  the  shutter. 
Mortified  and  ashamed  we  slunk  quickly  back  to  bed, 
and  next  day  made  a  mutual  contract  never  to  tell  of 
our  awkward  midnight  adventure  so  long  as  we  lived 
— in  Dixie. 

"  I  was  at  first  much  entertained  by  the  peculiar 
phraseology  of  the  people  :  '  Well  Aunty,  what  do  you 
do  for  a  living?'  I  asked  of  one  old  woman  whom  I 
knew  to  be  extremely  destitute.  'Oh!  I  just  trusts  in 
the  Lord,  Honey;  and  my  ole  man  he  patters  roun'!' 
A  new  way  of '  making  a  living'  certainly,  but  Aunty 
after  all  was  a  true  philosopher." 

From  Union  City,  Tennessee: 

"  Buckeye  School,  May,  1868. 

"  This  school,  though  so  recently  organized,  bids 
fair  to  rival  in  numbers  and  interest  the  older  missions 
of  the  State.  Aside  from  a  few  Ku  Klux  manifestoes 
I  have  been  unmolested,  and  the  people,  though  de- 
cidedly hostile,  have  done  nothing  worse  than  '  let  me 
alone  severely.'  In  Major  F.  H.  Torbett,  commandant 
of  the  Union  troops  at  this  post,  the  freed  men  have 
friend  a  steadfast  friend  and  judicious  counselor,  and 
to  his  exertions  mainly  are  due  the  prosperity  and 
progress  of  the  school.  Although  a  Southerner  by 
birth  and  education,  he  has  not  scorned  to  listen  to  the 
lowest,  nor  to  relieve  the  wants  of  the  humblest  among 
them,  while  they  in  turn  regard  him  with  unbounded 
gratitude  and  respect,  relying  upon  his  assistance,  and 
asking  and  following  his  advice  with  the  confidence 
and  almost  the  helplessness  of  children." 

From  Columbus,  Kentucky  : 

"  On  the  23d  of  February,  1868,   in  company  with 


AMERICAN   SLAVERY.  fS/ 

Miss  B ,  I  came  to  this  place   and   organized  the 

mission  schools. 

"  A  large,  rudely  constructed  school-building  has  just 
been  erected,  which  will  answer  our  purpose  nicely  in 
summer,  but  is  very  uncomfortable  at  present.  Our 
pupils  attend  regularly;  all  are  so  eager  for  instruction 
and  progress  so  rapidly  that  it  is  a  pleasure  to  teach 
them. 

"  We  have  also  opened  a  night  school  for  those  who 
can  not  attend  during  the  day,  and  thus  far  have  met 
with  success.  Many  of  the  old  men  and  women  would 
make  almost  any  sacrifice  to  be  able  to  read  and  write. 

"  Our  Sabbath-school  numbers  one  hundred  and  fifty 
pupils,  and  much  interest  is  manifested  in  the  Bible 
lessons.  They  love  to  learn  of  Jesus.  Most  of  the 
people  whom  we  have  visited  appear  to  be  quite  '  re- 
ligious,' as  the  phrase  goes;  that  is,  they  belong  to 
'  meeting,'  have  knowledge  of  their  Creator,  of  heaven, 
and  a  place  of  punishment,  but  the  story  of  the  life 
and  death  of  the  Savior  is  new  to  them,  and  they 
listen  with  pleased  interest  to  its  recital. 

"The  citizens  of  Columbus  are  bitterly  opposed  to 
educating  the  freedmen,  and  we  are  made  to  feel  con- 
stantly that  we  are  in  the  '  enemy's  country.'  Much 
of  the  opposition  seems  to  arise  from  the  non-education 
of  the  whites  themselves.  They  are  just'beginning  to 
feel  their  own  deficiency  in  this  respect,  and  it  mor- 
tifies them  to  see  the  negroes  receiving  advantages 
which  they  and  their  children  have  never  enjoyed. 
This  was  fitly  illustrated  by  the  remark  of  a  rebel  lady 
to  whom  I  had  spoken  respecting  the  progress  of  our 
pupils.  Lamenting  her  own  lack  of  education,  she 
said,  '  Since  its  got  to  be  fashionable  to  teach  the 
niggers,  I  feel  as  if  Id  like  to  know  a  little  somethin' 
myself.'  Thus  it  is  probable  that  the  impetus  given 
to  education  by  the  colored  schools,  will  lead  in  time 
to  the  institution  of  better  schools  for  the  white  chil- 
dren of  the  South. 

"  Many  outrages  have  been  perpetrated  upon  the 
freedmen  this  spring,  and  several  unprovoked  murders 
were  committed  during  the  past  two  months.     It  is 


/S2  OftlGIJV  siJ^D    HIS 2 OUT    OF 

rare,  indeed,  to  find  a  case  in  which  they  have  been 
fairly  recompensed  lor  their  labor  by  their  white  em- 
ployers. The  Slate  laws  are  insufficient  for  the  pro- 
tection of  freed  men  and  poor  Unionists,  and.  in  tact, 
are  almost  wholly  inoperative,  as  far  as  the  freedmen 
are  concerned. 

"We  find,  usually,  a  strong  feeling  of  gratitude  to- 
ward the  mit-sion  1*  aehers  and  bureau  agents.  Often, 
■w  bile  pat-sing  through  the  row  s  of  shanties,  Lieutenant 

B ,  agent  of  the  Bureau,  is  saluted   by   '  Dar  go  de 

Freedmen  Bureau,  may  de  good  Lord  bress  him,'  and 
similar  ejaeulath  ns.  In  many  ways  they  show  their 
regard  for  us,  and  the  mission  work,  though  attended 
with  many  dangers  and  hardships,  is  Htill  the  most 
pleasant  in  which  I  have  ever  engaged.  It  is  full  of 
pleasing  incident,  instructive  experience,  and  labor 
that  is  its  own  reward." 

"Trinity  School,  Athens,  Alabama. 

"  They  often  speak  of  the  trials  and  triumphs  of 
their  fugitive  biethren  during  those  dark  days  when 
few  among  them  dreamed  that  freedom's  blessed  light 
would  ever  dawn  on  them.  But  now  says  one,  'Here 
we  is,  right  on  the  ole  plantation,  j » st  as  free  as  dey  is 
in  Canada.  We  waited  for  de  Lord  and  now  he  am 
come!' 

'A  few  days  ago  I  had  a  call  from  Aunt  Milly,  an 
old  prophetess  and  quite  a  celebrity  among  her  people. 
Having  belonged  to  the  Washington  family  in  'Ole 
Yirginy,'  she  seems  inclined  to  boast  of  royal  hlood, 
and  ot  course  knows  all  about  '  Massy  George,'  and 
indeed  of  the  whole  lineff  presidents  Irom  Washington 
down  to  Abraham  Lincoln.  But  when  she  spoke  of 
our  martyred  President  her  voice  quivered  with  emo- 
tion. Crossing  her  hands  reverently  upon  her  breast, 
she  lifted  her  streaming  eyes  to  heaven  and  evclaimed, 
'  Bress  de  Lord  for  Abraham  Lincoln!  Bress  de  Man- 
cipation Proclamation!  Bress  de  locomotives  on  de 
Underground  Railroad!  D<y  has  finally  pulled  we 
all  into  freedom.  An  now  Jet»us.  he's  tugging  away  to 
make  us  Jree  indeed.'     Alter  a  solemn  pause  she  broke 


AMERICAN   SLAVE 'ft T.  /SJt 

forth  again  :  '  Bress  yon,  Honey!  Pears  like  it  takes 
a  heap  of  pullin'  to  get  some  on  us  whar  we  can  see  his 
glory.  We  has  awful  wicked  hearts.  Honey;  dey  is  a 
heap  blacker  dan  dese  ole  bodies,  and  has  worse  scars 
dan  our  backs.  But  de  Lord  am  going  to  wash  em  in 
his  own  blood,  and  den  dey'll  be  white,  oh  berry 
white,  an  we'll  be  white  too,  case  Jesus  am  white,  an 
de  Bible  says  we  shall  be  like  him.  Yes,  like  him, 
Honey.'  She  warmed  with  her  theme,  and  as  she 
grew  more  excited  her  utterances  became  less  distinct, 
and  her  ecstasy  found  vent  in  shouts,  and  finally  her 
full  soul  poured  out  its  joy  in  the  sublime  strains  of 
Uncle  Joe's  wHail  Columbia.'  '  De  Lord  am  come  to 
save  his  people,  now  let  me  die.' 

"Sometimes  when  I  witness  these  j'03'ful  demonstra- 
tions as  they  dwell  upon  the  blessings  of  freedom,  I 
momentarily  exclaim,  can  they,  even  in  heaven,  be 
any  happier?  But  ah  me,  this  full  cup  of  happiness 
has  its  drops  of  bitterness.  Yesterday  we  found  two 
old  helpless  women  and  three  small  children  huddled 
together  in  a  rude  cabin,  with  little  or  no  fire,  scarcely 
clothing  enough  to  cover  them,  and  with  no  means  of 
support  except  the  left  hand  of  one  of  the  women  (the 
other  hand  being  long  ago  disabled  by  rheumatism). 
The  other  woman  is  a  cripple,  has  not  walked  for  four- 
teen years.  But  now  that  she  is  free  she  is  graciously 
permitted  to  go  forth  and  perish.  Such  is  the  strong 
attachment  existing  between  master  and  slave.  Though 
the  former  owner  of  this  woman  is  wealthy  and  abun- 
dantly able  to  provide  for  her,  yet  she  brought  her  to 
town  to  be  taken  care  of  by  the  k  colored  people,'  when 
not  one  family  in  ten  have  any  home  for  themselves. 

"Yet  Aunt  Dinah  utters  no  complaint;  on  the  con- 
trary, she  rejoices  that  she  is  free,  that  none  can  sell 
her  children  or  prevent  them  from  learning  to  read; 
that  '  by  an  by  dey  11  read  de  blessed  Bible  to  poor  ole 
Dinah.'  We  sent  them  some  blankets  which  seemed 
to  warm  them  soul  and  body,  and  their  glad  voices 
united  in  that  grand  old  choral,  '  Praise  God  from 
whom  all  blessings  flow.'  " 


/SI  ORIGIJV  siJYD    KIS2  0RY    OF 

From  Buckeye  School,  Tennessee: 

How  1  wish  you  could  hear  my  children  sing  their 
strange,  wild  melodies,  that  bring  back  so  vividly  the 
old  slave  life  with  its  toil  and  servile  ignorance  I  Yet 
their  old  plantation  songs  are  falling  into  disuse,  and 
in  their  stead  we  hear  chanted  daily  the  hymns  and 
psalms  so  familiar  to  Northern  ears.  Imagine  if  you 
can  the  effect  produced  by  the  shrill,  untutored  voices 
of  several  hundred  children,  clustered  under  the  green 
arches  of  the  forest  and  singing  with  wild  energy  and 
earnestness  the  teachers  improvised  song,  "  We  are 
Free!" 

Free  !     We  are  free  !    With  a  wild  and  joyous  cry, 
We  children  in  our  gladness  are  shouting  far  and  nigh ! 
Free  !     We  are  free  !     Oh,  let  the  tidings  tiy, 
We  are  free  to-day  ! 

Chorus — Glory,  glory,  Halleluiah,  etc. 
We  are  free  to-day  ! 

Free  I     We  are  free  !  though  dusky  be  the  skin, 
Pure  may  the  spirit  be  that  God  has  put  within, 
For  Jesus  has  redeemed  it  from  misery  and  fr^m  sin. 
We  are  free  to-day  1 


Chorus. 


Chorus. 


Free  1     We  are  free  1  and  our  toil  shall  be  repaid, 

The  cravings  of  a  hungry  mind   with   knowledge  shall  be 

stayed; 
And  ignorance  no  longer  bind  the  soul  for  glory  made. 
We  are  free  to-day  1 

We  will  think  of  the  President 
Who  signed  the  Freedom  Bill, 
We'll  think  of  the  Northern   hearts  who  pray  for  freedom 

still. 
We  are  free  to-day  1 

Chorus. 

Here  is  a  rude  snatch  of  song  that  possesses  a  pe- 
culiar charm  when  sung  as  it  usually  is  with  power 
and  feeling  : 


AMERICAN    SLAVERY.  /SS 

"  I'll  hoist  my  flag  in  the  wilderness,  in  the  wilderness,  in  the  wilder- 
ness; 
I'll  hoist  my  flag  in  the  wilderness, 
For  I  am  a  going  home  ! 
The  grace  of  God  is  so  sweet, 
The  grace  of  God  is  so  sweet, 
The  grace  of  God  is  so  sweet, 
For  I  am  a  going  home. 

"  I'll  baptize  John  in  the  wilderness,  in  the  wilderness,  in  the  wilder- 
ness; 
I  '11  baptize  John  in  the  wilderness, 
For  I  am  a  going  home  ! 
The  grace  of  God  is  so  sweet, 
The  grace  of  God  is  so  sweet, 
The  grace  of  God  is  so  sweet, 
For  I  am  a  going  home." 

This  is  a  graveyard  song,  usually  sung  by  the  grave 
of  a  buried  brother  or  sister,  and  is  frequently  spun 
out  to  great  length  by  the  recapitulation  of  the  names 
of  all  the  community  who  have  died  during  the  year: 

Brother  Daniel  don't  sing  no  longer, 
Brother  Daniel  don't  sing  no  longer, 
Brother  Daniel  don't  sing  no  longer, 
Lord,  I  don't  want  to  stay  behind. 
See  dark  clouds  a  risin'  in  de  mornin', 
See  dark  clouds  a  risin'  in  de  mornin', 
See  dark  clouds  a  risin'  in  de  mornin', 
I  don't  want  to  stay  behind. 

Sister  Martha  don't  sing  no  longer, 
Sister  Martha  don't  sing  no  longer, 
Sister  Martha  don't  sing  no  longer, 
Lord,  I  don't  want  to  stay  behind. 
Make  ready  to  meet  de  angels  in  de  mornin', 
Make  ready  to  meet  de  angels  in  de  mornin', 
Ready  to  meet  de  angels  in  de  mornin', 
Lord,  I  don't  want  to  stay  behind. 

When  sung  at  funerals  this  song  is  terminated  by  each 
of  the  singers  taking  up  a  handful  of  earth  and  tossing 
it  with  a  muttered  prayer  into  the  open  grave  :  "  Down 
in  the  valley  to  pray,"  is  a  general  favorite,  and  is 
likewise  made  a  recapitulation  of  the  names  of  all  the 
members  present  at  meeting  : 


f36  ORIGTJV  AJV&    HISTORY    OF 

Oh,  Mother,  let's  go  down,  let's  go  down,  in  the  valley  to  pray. 
As  the  mother  went  down  in  the  valley  to  pray, 
Studying  about  dat  good  old  way; 
And  who  shall  wear  the  starry  crown, 
Good  Lord  !  show  me  the  way. 

Here  is  a  wild  refrain    that   sounds  sweetly  when 

well  sung: 

Oh,  just  behold  that  number  ! 

Oil,  just  behold  that  number! 

Oh,  just  behold  that  number  ! 

Come  up  through  tribulation, 

From  every  graveyard; 

Put  on  a  long  white  robe, 

We'll  wear  the  starry  crown, 

Walk  up  and  down  the  pale  gold  streets, 

From  every  graveyard. 

And  here  is   another   that   fairly  makes  the  blood 

curdle  in  the  veins  when  sung  by  an  excited  shouting 

congregation: 

Oh,  Israel !  Oh,  Israel !  Oh,  Israel !  in  that  great  day  I 
Oh,  Mother!  where's  you  runnin'? 
Oh,  Mother  !  where's  you  runnin'? 
Oh,  Mother!  where's  you  runnin'? 
In  that  great  day. 
I'm  runnin'  from  the  fire  ! 
I'm  runnin'  from  the  lire  ! 
I'm  runnin'  from  the  fire  ! 
In  that  great  day. 
Crying — Oh,  Israel !  Oh,  Israel!  in  that  great  day, 
The  fire'll  overtake  you, 
The  fire'll  overtake  you, 
In  that  great  day. 

Oh,  Israel !  Oh,  Israel !  Oh,  Israel !  in  that  great  day, 
You'll  see  graveyards  a  bustin', 
You'll  see  graveyards  a  bustin', 
You'll  see  graveyards  a  bustin', 
In  that  great  day. 
Crying — Oh,  Israel  !  Oh," Israel!  in  that  great  day, 
You'll  see  the  earth  a  sinkin', 
You'll  see  the  earth  a  sinkin', 
In  that  great  day. 

This  is  of  a  different  character: 

Oh,  do  come  along,  we'll  see  Jesus, 
Oh,  do  come  along,  we'll  see  Jesus," 
Oh,  do  come  along,  we'll  see  Jesus, 
When  the  last  trumpet  sounds. 


tfMBRICAJV*   SLAVER*.  f37 

Mary  says  Martha,  Martha  says  Mary; 
Dare's  a  band  of  angels  waitin' 
Till  dc  last  trumpet  sounds, 

A  few  more  days  and  we'll  see  Jesus, 
A  few  more  days  and  we'll  see  Jesus, 
A  few  more  days  and  we'll  see  Jesus, 
When  de  last  trumpet  sounds. 
Go  blow  your  trumpet^  Gabriel, 
Go  blow  a  little  louder, 
When  the  last  trumpet  sounds. 

Here  is  a  disconnected  link,  from  the  singing  of 
which  the  older  members  appear  to  derive  peculiar 
{satisfaction : 

All  Israel  love  feast  in  heaven  to-day, 

My  soul  will  outshine  the  sun, 

Love  feast  to-day; 

Eat  all  de  honey  and  drink  all  de  wine, 

Love  feast  in  heaven  to-day. 

It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  wild,  weird  melody 
produced  from  these  uncouth  jargonic  rhymes.  To 
you  who  merely  read  them,  they  will  doubtless  seem 
to  be  destitute  of  rhythm,  and  incapable  of  being  ren- 
dered into  music;  but  who  that  has  stood  by  their 
camp-meeting  fires,  and  listened  to  the  soul-swelling 
strains,  in  which  the  simple  hearts  of  rustic  worship- 
ers poured  forth  their  fervent  feelings,  can  ever  forget 
the  waves  of  sound  that  rose  and  ebbed  and  died  away 
among  the  overhanging  foliage  of  the  forest  ?  It  is 
the  music  of  nature,  the  divine  melody  of  untaught 
devotion,  swelling  rich  and  free  from  the  fountains  of 
untutored  hearts. 

A  teacher  writing  from  Dawfuskie  Island,  says: 

"  Twice  per  week  we  have  an  industrial  school  for  the 
girls.  They  are  quite  interested  in  making  garments 
which  are  to  be  their  own  when  finished.  Four  nights 
each  week  we  have  an  interesting  night  school — often 
have  forty  present — but  the  average  is  less.  All  come 
after  toiling  all  day  in  the  cotton  field.     One  woman  is 

12 


fSS  ORIGIJY  HJVD    HIS 2  OUT    OF 

always  present  with  ber  babe  in  ber  arms,  except  when 
sick;  six  young  men  walk  two  and  a  half  miles,  and 
several  others  three  miles.  How  few  of  those  who  call 
the  Freedmen  'lazy  niggers '  would  walk  five  and  six 
miles  after  working  hard  all  day,  for  the  sake  of  learn- 
ing to  read!  Sabbath  morning  I  have  a  school  of 
forty-eight  children  who  are  intensely  interested. 
Some  of  '  dem  chilen  '  who  are  '  mindin  birds  'or  'do 
chile,'  through  the  week,  come  in  on  that  day,  and  I 
trust  a  seed  or  two  falls  into  their  young  hearts." 

Another  writes  of  the  opening  of  her  school: 

"Like  untamed  animals  the  children  flocked  in, 
without  any  ideas  of  order  or  application.  Cleanliness 
was  disregarded  in  many  cases.  Disorder  prevailed, 
and  it  was  almost  disheartening  to  contemplate  the 
array  of  untutored  little  ones  moving  about  so  uneasily 
upon  their  benches.  The  question  naturally  arose, 
can  these  turbulent  spirits  ever  be  quieted  and  sub- 
dued?" 

Another  writes  this  hopefully: 

"  It  is  scarcely  requisite  to  enter  into  any  deta'led 
account  of  the  amount  of  work  I  find  daily  necessary 
to  perform.  The  fact  of  one  hundred  pupils  undermy 
charge,  all  of  whom  can  read,  and  whom  it  is  impos- 
sible to  hear  in  concert  recitations,  which  would  econ- 
omize time  and  strength,  speaks  for  itself.  In  this 
school  the  teacher's  body  must  be  literally  'a  living 
sacrifice '  to  God  and  duty.  Through  the  hours  of 
exhausting  labor  I  repeat  again  and  again,  '  Be  not 
weary  in  well  doing,  O  soul;  be  not  weary, — think  of 
Gethsemane  and  the  hill  of  Calvary,  and  forget  your 
small  burdens;  Christ  has  done  so  much  for  you,  it  is 
so  little  you  can  do  for  him.'  I  know  that  every 
effort  made  from  an  earnest  and  conscientious  desire 
to  advance  the  Father's  kingdom  and  to  show  forth  his 
glory  will  bo  blessed;  and  so  I  trust  his  promise,  that 
1  in  due  season  ye  shall  reap  if  you  faint  not/  and 
that  he  who  faithfully  performs  the  duty  to  which  he 
is  appointed,  'shall  doubtless  come  again  rejoicing, 
bringing  his  sheaves  with  him.' 


AMERICAN   SLATER*.  739 

"I  have  a  large  and  deeply  interesting  Sabbath-school 
class  Oar  earnest  and  prayerful  study  of  the  divine 
word  I  trust  may  make  them  wise  unto  salvation,  may 
lead  them  to  become  followers  of  God  as  dear  children, 
and  '  to  know  the  love  of  Christ  which  passeth  knowl- 
edge.' " 

From  Nashville,  Tennessee: 

"  The  experience  of  the  last  month  is  quite  like  that 
of  the  past,  only  affording  additional  evidence  of  the 
great  need  of  gospel  truth  in  this  community,  and  the 
importance  of  doing  our  work  now.  Soil  kept  in  the 
dark  produces  little  vegetation,  but  when  exposed  to 
the  light  and  warmth,  soon  develops  its  latent  activi- 
ties; soil  neglected  may  yield  to  its  owner  a  crop  of 
weeds,  or  a  harvest  from  his  neighbor's  thistles  or  his 
enemy's  tares.  How  like  such  soil  is  the  mind  com- 
mitted to  our  care!  Be  it  ours  to  let  in  upon  it  the 
genial  light  of  education,  and  to  sow  the  precious 
wheat  of  gospel  truth,  meanwhile  guarding  against  the 
lodgment  of  evil  influence  from  the  vast  moral  wastes 
around." 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  a  letter  written  by 
a  teacher,  who  gives  her  ti  tie    receiviii  iary: 

"  I  receive  my  pay  daily,  in  feeling  that  '  mmi  <  ' 
ing  in  the  'Masters  vineyard.*  After  hearing  Mr 
Williams  an  agent  for  the  A.  M  A  speak  in  behalf  of 
the  Freedmen  I  felt  that  I  would  like  to  do  something 
for  them,  and  ottered  riiy  services  as  teacher  tor  one 
year.  I  have  never  regretted  so  doing,  bu1  constantly 
thank  God  that  he  has  permitted  me  to  labor  in  this 
field.  I  am  contented  and  happy.  I  never  saw 
scholars  who  made  as  ra|>id  advancement  as  do  some 
of  these  knowledge-thirsty  colored  people." 

From  Staunton,  Virginia: 

"I  am  much  encouraged  by  the  interest  manifested 
by  my  scholar*  in  their  books,  and  their  industrious 
application,  and  by  Lite  earnest  endeavor  of  many  to 
'  walk  humbly    with  God.'     I  have   enjoyed  precious 


no  oftiGiJv  and  irisioftr  or 

hours  of  prayer  with  my  little  ones,  and  the  spirit  of 
God  has  been  with  us.  Even  our  usual  morning 
devotions  have  been  seasons  of  refreshment  and  profit. 
Oh,  that  the  Father's  gracious  love  may  sustain  us, 
and  my  efforts,  poor  and  imperfect  as  they  are,  be  by 
his  grace  blessed  to  the  eternal  welfare  of  these  pre- 
cious souls. 

"  The  change  in  the  school  is  very  marked,  so  much 
so  that  it  has  attracted  general  attention,  even  from 
those  who  have  felt  no  interest  in  the  schools.  The 
deportment  of  the  pupils  both  in  school  and  out,  con- 
vinces me  that  the  change  is  radical  and  permanent, 
that  many  are  walking  uprightly  before  God.  The 
influence  and  example  of  tluse  over  the  others  is  most 
happy. 

'*  How  tenderly  God  guides  and  preserves  us  when  we 
rest  wholly  and  unreservedly  upon  him;  how  weak  we 
are  in  our  own  strength,  but  how  strong  when  we  do 
all  things  unto  him." 

From  Augusta,  Georgia: 

"  But  the  whole  picture  of  our  work  is  not  as  dark 
as  I  have  painted  it  thus  lar.  There  are  sunny  places 
after  all.  As  we  have  been  from  cabin  to  cabin,  and 
found  the  inmates  destitute  and  suffering,  and  had  only 
to  write  on  a  bit  of  paper,  'Please  give  the  bearer  a 
pair  of  blankets,  or  clothing  or  food,'  as  the  case  might 
be,  it  seemed  as  if  we  must  be  in  the  land  of  '  Utopia.' 
]s  it  possible,  we  can  not  help  asking,  that  in  this 
world  which  sometimes  looks  so  cold  and  selfish,  we 
have  only  to  say  to  the  poor  and  oppressed —  Be  ye 
clothed,  and  it  is  done?  Yes,  thanks  to  the  kind 
people  of  the  North,  it  has  been  so.  I  have  often 
wished  that  the  donors  of  the  articles  could  have  been 
present  when  the  garments  were  appropriated,  to  see 
how  nicely  they  fitted,  how  perfectly  adapted  they 
were  to  the  need  of  the  wearer,  and  how  happy  they 
made  him  look.     Well,  they  will  not  lose  their  reward." 

Fiom   Atlanta,  Georgia: 

"  I   remember   one   case    that   seemed    particularly 


XMERlCAJf   SLAVERY.  /// 

touching.  A  woman  came  to  work  for  us,  leaving 
three  children  at  home.  From  her  conversation  we 
judged  they  were  needy,  and  went  to  see.  The  oldest 
child,  a  boy  about  ten,  was  sitting  by  the  stove  bare- 
footed; he  kept  the  door  open  to  admit  light,  for  there 
was  no  window  in  the  cabin.  We  looked  around  for 
the  other  children.  The  little  woolly-headed  sisters 
were  smuggled  together  upon  the  bed,  shivering  be- 
neath a  piece  of  tent-cloth,  a  spread  no  thicker  than  a 
sheet,  and  a  bed  tick.  All  the  clothing  that  one  had 
was  a  little  cotton  frock  and  stockings — the  other  had 
rather  more.  And  yet  this  mother  said,  she  knows 
God  would  never  leave  her  to  suffer.  She  had  neither 
knife,  fork  nor  spoon  in  the  house,  and  no  food  except- 
ing a  little  we  gave  her  the  day  before.  Surely,  if  she 
does  not  call  this  suffering  she  will  never  suffer." 

From  St.  Louis,  Missouri: 

"It  is  almost  impossible  to  convey  any  adequate  idea 
of  the  school  by  writing — one  only  needs  to  see  it  in 
order  to  take  in  its  peculiarities.  Here  is  seated  a 
middle-aged  man  intently  studying  the  first  principles 
of  Arithmetic,  yonder  is  his  wife  as  diligently  poring 
over  her  primer.  Here  a  mother  just  commencing  to 
read,  there  her  son  of  sixteen,  trying  to  conquer  the 
Multiplication  Table.  In  this  class  is  a  man  just  learn- 
ing his  letters;  by  his  side  are  children  five  years  old 
at  the  same  lesson,  and  soon. 

"  May  the  grace  of  God  enable  me  to  do  all  that  is 
acceptable  to  him." 

From  North  Carolina: 

1  Every  time  I  carry  a  pail  of  meal  or  a  few  potatoes 
to  put  into  the  bony  fingers  of  sickly  sufferers,  I  say, 
1  God  sent  you  this.'  And  in  their  dark  cabins  they 
have  a  thanksgiving  unknown  in  the  lands  of  plenty." 

From  Mississippi: 

"You  who  have  looked  in  upon  the  filth  of  these 
most  desolate  homes,  can  measure  the  breadth  of  the 
tangled  wilderness  the  people  are  crossing.    And  when 


?U3  OftlGHV  ?1JYD    JTISIOftT    OF 

one  after  another  arrives  upon  the  very  borders  of  civ- 
ilization, their  son^s  of  deliverance  are  soul-stirring 
indeed.  This  month,  too,  has  developed  more  than  we 
remember,  in  any  previous  month,  of  the  benefits  of 
God's  lessons,  in  his  School  of  Affliction.  Want  and 
destitution  are  the  order  of  the  day.  The  government 
on  which  they  depended  too  much,  is  to  them  a  broken 
reed,  so  far  as  bread  is  concerned.  Now,  more  than 
ever,  they  turn  instinctively  to  God,  and  strike,  with 
their  own  right  arm  more  potent  blows  lor  the  pres- 
ervation of  life  under  sore  trials. 

"The  schools  this  month  have  been  very  prosperous. 
Their  discipline  is  becoming  easier.  The  first  draught 
from  fountains  unopened  fcnfore  intoxicated  them. 
'Drinking  largely  sobers  them  again.'  They  are  all 
coming  to  think  education  necessary.  Some  of  our 
pupils  are  our  fathers  and  mothers,  in  age.  Sitting, 
the  other  day,  beside  a  gray-haired  man,  while  with 
difficulty  he  spelled  out,  '  Let  not  your  hearts  be 
troubled;  ye  believe  in  God,  believe  also  in  me,' he 
exclaimed,  'Thank  God,  thank  God.'  The  religion  of 
these  people  is  not  a  cold  abstraction.  Its  life  giving 
influence  lightens  the  eye,  quickens  the  step,  gives 
tone  and  vigor  to  the  whole  man.  Where  other  hearts 
would  sink  under  the  weight  of  trial,  their  voices,  often 
triumphant  in  prayer,  exclaim,  '  Give  us  this  day  our 
daily  bread.'  And  God  hears  them.  Do  not  we  know 
that  God  hears  them?" 

A  resident  minister  writes  from  Maryland: 

"When,  a  few  weeks  since.  I  addressed  gatherings  of 
colored  people,  mutterings  of  distant  thunder  were  oc- 
casionally heard,  but  when  my  daughter  actually  be- 
came a  teacher — '  a  white  lady  teaching  niggers  ' — the 
storm  came  on  apace.  As  my  daughter  passes  through 
the  street,  boys  and  middle  aged  men  call  out,  'Snow- 
ball!' 'Nigger  teacher!'  anH,  in  passing  our  house, 
they  jeer  and  ridicule.  Yesterday  something  was 
hinted  to  me  about  mobbing  abolitionists.  The  spirit 
of  rebellion  is  as  bitter  here  as  in  South  Carolina,  and 
we  are  without  protection  from  government." 


^MERICAJV    SLAVERY.  f&3 

"  The  Freedmen  are  proving  their  appreciation  of 
efforts  in  their  behalf.  They  beg  me  to  stay,  and  cling 
to  me  as  if  I  were  their  Moses.  A  field  for  telling 
labor  opens  here,  such  as  I  never  saw  before,  unless  I 
except  my  labor  in  the  army.  Could  I  see  any  means 
of  support,  I  should  feel  that  I  could  not  leave  without 
being  guilty  of  taking  ship  for  Tarshish." 

From  the  lady  teachers  of  Charleston,  S.  C: 
"  The  return  of  the  rebels  to  this  vicinity,  after  the 
fall  of  Richmond,  made  our  home  a  little  less  pleasant 
than  before.  Of  course,  they  look  down  upon  us 
'Yankees'  and  -Nigger  teachers,'  with  'superior  dis- 
dain,' and  wish  us  all  sorts  of  unhappy  fates;  but  this 
was  to  be  expected  when  they  saw  us  working  right 
against  the  labor  of  their  lives,  that  is,  striving  to  ele- 
vate those  whom  they  have  made  every  effort  to  de- 
grade, and  so,  as  they  dare  do  no  more  than  talk,  we 
pass  it  by  unnoticed." 

From  Arkansas: 

"Another  failure  of  crops,  with  the  fall  of  cotton, 
has  spread  over  the  whole  community  a  general  de- 
spondency. The  entire  withdrawal  of  government 
rations  from  hundreds  of  disabled  men,  women,  and 
orphan  children  of  both  races,  is  the  most  severe  mis- 
fortune they  have  ever  met.  How  fondly  had  we 
hoped  this  year  to  be  able  to  give  a  bright  picture  of 
Southern  prosperity.  But,  alas!  for  earthly  hopes. 
On  the  heels  of  war,  famine  presses.  The  darkening 
of  the  sun  would  not  more  visibly  display  God's  dis- 
pleasure against  a  nation's  sins,  but  how  long  the  poor 
Freedmen  must  suffer  with  the  guilty,  is  unknown  to 
us.  We  trust  they  will  come  up  out  of  this  sea  of 
trouble,  a  purer,  nobler  race." 

From  Teachers'  Home,  Augusta,  Ga  ,  Oct.  18, 
"Back  again  in  my  place,  after  three  months  ab- 
sence, and  right  glad  to  be  back  too !  The  dusky  faces 
seem  a  little  strange  to  me  after  so  unbroken  a  period 
of  intercourse  with  the  race  which  claims  a  leudal 
right  over  all  the  other  races  of  the  earth.     Yet  I  find 


/44  ORIGIN  riA'D    HIS  TORT    OF 

my  interest  in  these  said  dusky  faces  no  less  than  for- 
merly. Sickness  and  death  have  been  making  sad 
havoc  among  the  people,  and  a  report  had  spread 
among  them  that  /  was  myself  dead.  Here  comes  a 
quaint  epistle  from  a  boy  who  learned  to  make  the  let- 
ters in  the  primary  school  last  term,  but  who.  during 
our  absence,  has  contrived  to  wield  the  pen  He  writes 
ttous:  'I  am  glad  to  see  that  you  is  not  ded  yet,  and 
that  the  lord  has  not  taken  you  to  heven  to  fly  with 
the  angels,  for  you  is  a  heep  of  use  to  the  world,  and  I 
want  you  to  live  as  long  as  the  lord  will  let  you.' 

"  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  dear  boy  will  receive  the 
accomplishment  of  his  wish,  and  since  he  and  a  few 
others  express  their  delight  that  I  am  still  alive,  I  can 
not  but  reciprocate  the  sentiment  " 

A  lady  writes  from  Virginia: 

"  Only  once  had  I  occasion  to  administer  reproof  for 
untidiness  and  neglect  of  proper  ablution.  I  spoke  to 
the  child,  a  flaxen  haired,  rosy  cheeked  little  boy,  pri- 
vately and  as  tenderly  as  possible,  understanding  that 
little  children  have  sensitive  hearts  as  well  as  those  of 
1  larger  growth.'  The  little  one's  face  flushed  painfully, 
and  turning  his  sad  blue  eyes  filled  with  tears  to  my 
face,  he  said  simply,  'My  mother  is  dead,  and  I  never 
had  any  father.'  J  think  my  own  eyes  filled  then,  and 
my  heart  yearned  inexpressibly  over  this  poor  neg- 
lected orphan,  whose  Saxon  face  was  sufficient  evi- 
dence that  he  had  said  truly,  '  I  never  had  any  father.' 
There  are  many  such  as  he  in  the  school;  the  great 
preponderance  of  the  mulattoes  over  the  blacks  imme- 
diately arrests  the  attention  of  the  spectator.  Of  the 
whole  number  (one  hundred)  there  are  not,  I  think, 
twenty  blacks." 

From  Tennessee: 

"  This  little  school  is  a  very  oasis  in  the  desert.  I 
do  not  by  this  mean  to  imply  that  the  field  here  is 
generally  a  barren  one,  for  fact  would  warrant  no  such 
estimate. 

"  The  men  with  whom  this  school  brings  me  into 
contact  are  men  who  ask  no  title  of  nobility,  but  whose 


alMEftlCAJV    SLAYER Y.  fl>5 

whole  bearing  tells  the  story  of  a  princely  heart  and  a 
manhood  that  puts  doubt  to  shame.  They  show  a  zeal 
in  study  which  is  a  joy  to  their  instructor,  and  the  re- 
sults attained  are  quite  commensurate  with  the  effort 
they  make,  for  I  never  saw  more  rapid  progress  with 
any  class  of  scholars.  Does  any  man  tell  me  that  the 
negro  was  forgotten  when  God  made  man  a  living  soul? 
my  experience  will  be  warrant  for  expressing  the  con- 
viction that  Providence  favored  him  with  only  a  scant 
supply  of  soul  life." 

But  enough!  We  could  go  on  multiplying  instances 
indefinitely;  and  adduce  still  more  abundant  testimony 
from  these  girlish  missionaries,  who  have  forgotten 
race  and  color  in  their  most  womanly  labors  of  love. 

But  let  these  suffice:  gathered  at  random  from  a 
mighty  pile  of  missionary  correspondence,  they  ex- 
press, in  their  unstudied  language,  the  freshest  feelings 
of  youthful  hearts  overflowing  with  the  dews  of  mercy, 
and  refined  by  contact  with  the  world's  stern  opposi- 
tion. 

We  will  close  this  brief  tribute  to  their  self-denying 
labors,  by  evidencing,  as  proof  of  the  progress  of  lib- 
eral opinions  in  the  South,  this  contrast  between  the 
tone  of  the  leading  journals  of  Norfolk,  Virgela,  be- 
fore and  after  a  year's  toleration  of  mission  schools. 

From  the  leading  editorial  in  the  Norfolk  Virginian 
of  July  2,  1866: 

"  They  are  gone  or  going. — The  only  joy  of  our  exist- 
ence in  Norfolk  has  deserted  us.  The  '  negro  school- 
marms  '  are  either  gone,  going,  or  to  go,  and  we  don't 
much  care  which,  whereto,  or  how — whether  it  be  to 
the  more  frigid  regions  of  the  northern  zone,  or  to  a 
still  more  torrid  climate;  indeed,  we  may  say  that  we 
care  very  little  what  land  tbe}T  are  borne  to,  so  not 
again  to  '  our'n,'  even  though  it  be  that  bourn  whence 
no  traveler  returns.     Our  grief  at  their  departure   is, 

rj 

CO 


/ig  oniGijy  ajv¥>  jiiszoffi*  or 

however,  lightened  somewhat  by  the  recollection  of  the 
fact  that  we  will  get  rid  of  an  abominable  nuisance. 

"Oar  only  fear  is  that  their  departure  will  not  be 
eternal,  and  like  other  birds  of  prey  they  may  return 
to  us  in  season,  and  again  take  shelter,  with  their 
brood  of  black  birds,  under  the  protecting  wings  of 
that  all  gobbling  and  foulest  of  old  fowls,  the  well- 
known  buzzard  yclept  Freedmen's  Bureau. 

"  In  all  seriousness,  however,  we  congratulate  our 
citizens  upon  a  '  good  riddance  of  bad  baggage  '  in  the 
reported  departure  of  these  impudent  missionaries. 
Of  all  the  insults  10  which  the  Southern  people  have 
been  subjected,  this  was  the  heaviest  to  bear.  It  was 
the  refinement  of  torture.  It  did  not  draw  our  flesh 
off  the  bones  as  with  hot  pincers;  nor  did  it  stretch 
our  muscles  on  the  rack  and  fill  our  whole  physical 
system  with  aches  and  pinches;  but  it  was  the  more 
refined  torture  of  an  insult  to  our  pride  of  manhood 
and  oar  feelings;  it  was  heaping  coals  upon  our  mental 
anguish — to  have  sent  among  us  a  lot  of  ignorant,  nar- 
row-minded, bigoted  fanatics,  ostensibly  for  the  pur- 
pose of  propagating  the  gospel  among  the  heathen, 
and  teaching  our  little  negroes  and  big  negroes,  and 
all  kinds  of  negroes,  to  read  the  Bible  and  show  them 
the  road  to  salvation,  just  as  if  we  were  Fecjee  Island- 
ers and  worshipers  of  the  African  Fetish  gods,  snakes, 
toads,  and  terrapins;  but  whose  real  object  was  to  dis- 
organize and  demoralize  still  more  our  peasantry  and 
laboring  population. 

"And  the  people  of  "Norfolk  have  submitted  to  all 
of  this — to  this  terrible  indignity,  without  even  a  mur- 
mur. Was  ever  such  respect  shown  for  women,  fcr 
order,  for  peace,  for  obligations  imposed  by  the  adverse 
fortunes  of  war?  Would  any  other  people — would  the 
citizens  of  any  of  the  Northern  States — have  allowed 
themselves  to  be  so  foully  insulted? 

"  We  hail  with  satisfaction  the  departure  of  these 
female  disorganizes,  and  trust  no  favoring  gale  will 
ever  return  them  to  our  shores,  and  that  their  bureau 
and  other  furniture  may  soon  follow  in  their  wake." 


slMERlCAJV   SLAVE "R Y.  f&? 

From  the  Norfolk  Journal,  June  1,  1867. 

"  To  tell  the  plain  truth,  many  people  wish  to  see 
what  these  schools  have  done,  but  fear  public  opinion. 
They  believe  that  a  smart  set  of  boys  and  girls  are 
being  educated  by  a  smart  set  of  people,  all  which  is 
as  true  as  Holy  Writ.  But  it  goi-s  against  the  grain 
to  see  and  acknowledge  the  fact.  To  some  it  would  be 
a  bitter  pill.  Not  so  to  us;  and  when  we  dropped  in 
on  yesterday,  we  did  it  regardless  of  the  world's  fear — 
public  opinion.  We  shall  renew  our  visits  and  make 
up  parties  of  acknowledged  judgment  and  standing 
to  go  in  with  us.  and  encourage,  not  only  the  societies, 
but  the  ladies  representing  those  societies,  by  showing 
our  appreciation  of  their  labors,  and  lauding  them 
whenever  merit  is  discovered.  A  quiet  healthful  sys- 
tem of  gymnastics  was  combined  with  the  intellectual 
culture  of  the  pupils.  The  ladies  who  teach  in  this 
school  were  courteous  and  kind  and  took  great  pleas- 
ure in  exhibiting  the  various  faculties  of  their  scholars. 
Their  exertions  must  necessarily  advance  the  colored 
boys  and  girls  among  us  to  a  high  order  of  talent,  and 
more  encouragement  must  be  given  by  our  councils  to 
our  public  schools,  to  prevent  our  white  children  from 
being  outstripped  in  the  race  for  intelligence  by  their 
sable  competitors. 

Verily,  the  world  does  move,  and  reluctant  Virginia 
moves  with  it. 

We  append  a  brief  sketch  of  the  various  educational 
agencies  of  the  North,  which  co-operated  with  the 
Freedmen's  Bureau  in  the  colored  schools  of  the  South. 
The  list  is  not  by  any  means  complete;  many  ener- 
getic organizations  making  no  public  report  of  their 
proceedings;  also  many  have  labored,  rendering  effect- 
ive service  with  no  united  organization  whatever;  but 
to  the  following  societies,  churches,  and  ecclesiastical 
bodies  may  be  attributed  the  greater  proportion  of  the 
work : 

"  The  American  Missionary  Association  was    formed 


/4.S  OVIGIJV  A JTD    JUS'TORT    OF 

September  3,  1846,  at  which  time  a  number  of  tempo- 
rary organizations  preceding  it  and  having  the  same 
object,  were  merged  into  this  association. 

k'  Dissatisfaction  at  the  comparative  silence  of  other 
missionary  societies  with  regard  to  slavery  was  the 
main  cause  of  this  movement. 

"At  the  opening  of  the  rebellion  the  association 
found  itself,  by  an  experience  of  fifteen  years'  struggle 
with  the  spirit  of  slavery  north  and  south,  singularly 
prepared  to  enter  upon  the  work  of  educating  and  ele- 
vating the  colored  race  Accordingly,  when  emanci- 
pation followed  the  march  of  our  armies,  this  associa- 
tion was  among  the  first  to  meet  the  little  bands  of  es- 
caping slaves  with  clothing,  schools,  and  the  gospel  of 
Christ. 

"  By  a  noteworthy  ordering  of  Providence,  its  first 
school  was  established  at  Fortress  Monroe,  Virginia, 
near  the  spot  where  the  first  cargo  of  slaves  was  landed 
in  1620.  From  this  small  beginning  the  association 
has  gone  forward  until  its  corps  of  teachers  and  mis- 
sionaries, laboring  among  the  freed  people,  numbered, 
at  the  date  of  its  last  annual  report,  528.  with  over 
40,000  scholars.  In  central  localities  its  schools  are 
rapidly  advancing  to  the  higher  grades. 

"  The  association  has  recently  devoted  a  large  share 
of  its  resources  and  attention  to  normal  schools.  It 
has  purchased  lands  for  this  purpose,  and  by  the  aid  of 
the  Bureau  erected  permanent  and  commodious  build- 
ings. Its  oldest  school,  founded  before  the  war,  is  Be- 
rea  College,  Kentucky;  a  peculiar  feature  of  which  is, 
that  of  its  200  pupils  this  year  a  little  over  one-third 
are  white.  Many  of  its  scholars  are  in  the  normal  de- 
partment. 

"Fisk  University,  Nashville,  Tennessee,  another  of 
its  institutions,  has  a  corps  of  10  instructors  and  413 
pupils,  88  in  the  normal  department,  85  in  the  gram- 
mar school,  and  the  remainder  in  the  lower  depart- 
ments. Atlanta  University,  Georgia,  has  a  large  num- 
ber of  pupils  in  the  earlier  stages  of  study,  and  is  des- 
tined to  exert  a  wide  influence  over  the  State. 

"At  Hampton,  Virginia,  the  association  is  making 


AMERICAN    SLAVER*.  /4.9 

the  experiment  of  an  industrial  school,  wi^h  a  three 
years  course  of  stud's  including  a  normal  department. 
It  is  located  on  a  farm  of  120  acres  of  choice  land,  in 
the  cultivation  ot  which  the  young  men  defray  a  con- 
siderable part  of  th<  ir  exp>  nses  th<  3  oung  women  les- 
sening theirs  by  doing  the  work  of  the  boarding-house. 

11  The  association  has  also  normal  schools  at  Charles- 
ton South  Carolina;  Macon  Georgia;  Talladega  and 
Mobile  Alabama;  and  high  schools  at  Wilmington  and 
Beaufort.  North  Carolina;  Savannah  Georgia;  Mem- 
phis and  Cha'tanooga,  Tennessee;  and  Louisville, 
Kentucky. 

"  Its  receipts  have  increased  from  $43  000,  in  the  year 
preceding  ihe  rebellion,  to  $334  500  in  cash  and 
$90,000  wor'h  of  clothing  and  supplies  in  the  year 
1807;  total,  $424  500.  Its  funds  ot  late  have  come  lib- 
erally from  all  classes  and  denominations,  and  in  con- 
siderable sums  from  other  countries. 

'  All  the  labors  of  this  association  have  been  greatly 
blessed  in  the  material,  educational,  and  religious  im- 
provement of  the  Freedmen  who  have  come  within  its 
influence. 

"  The  American  Freedmen's  Union  Commission. — This 
commission  unites  in  its  organization  the  Freedmen's 
aid  societies  of  the  country  which  are  undenomina- 
tional, with  the  exception  ot  the  American  Missionary 
Association. 

'A  general  desire  to  act  for  the  poor  of  the  South, 
without  reference  to  color,  had  originated  what  was 
called  the  American  Union  Commission.  It  aimed 
largely  at  benefiting  the  ignorant  white  population, 
and  commenced  work  with  great  and  good  effect. 

"A  central  commission  for  all  these  societies  was 
also  felt  to  be  desirable,  and  in  January,  1864,  the 
friends  of  the  Freedmen  in  New  York  united  with  the 
American  Union  Commission  in  forming  the  American 
Freedmen's  and  Union  Commission.  The  western  so- 
cieties did  not  at  first  co-operate,  but  on  the  16th  of 
May,  1866.  a  convention  of  delegates  from  all  parts  of 
the  country  met  at  Cleveland.  Ohio,  and  formed  the 
present  American  Freedmen's  Union  Commission.     Its 


750  ORIGIJV   oiJfl)    HIS20R7    OF 

object,  as  stated  in  the  constitution,  is  'to  aid  and  co- 
operate with  the  people  of  the  South,  without  distinc- 
tion of  race  or  color,  in  the  improvement  of  their  con- 
dition, upon  the  basis  of  industry,  education,  freedom, 
and  Christian  morality.'  This  commission  has  been 
of  essential  service  in  stimulating  the  efforts  of  the  va- 
rious societies,  while  they  as  branches  have  acted 
through  this  common  center  with  great  unanimity. 

u  The  central  office  in  New  York  has  done  much  to 
draw  public  attention  to  the  work,  and  gather  funds 
from  all  parts  of  this  and  other  countries. 

"  The  last  aggregate  report  from  all  the  branches 
gave  458  schools  as  sustained  by  this  commission. 

"  The  New  England  Branch  of  the  Freedmen's  Union 
Commission  was  organized  at  Boston,  February  7, 1862, 
and  was  called  at  first  the  Boston  Educational  Com- 
mission. The  object  of  this  commission,  as  defined  in 
its  own  language,  is  '  the  industrial,  social,  intellect- 
ual, moral,  and  religious  improvement  of  persons  re- 
leased from  slavery  in  the  course  of  the  war  for  the 
Union.' 

"  On  the  3d  of  March,  less  than  four  weeks  after, 
they  nominated  31  teachers  and  superintendents,  who 
(as  accepted  by  the  government  agent,  Edward  L. 
Pierce,  Esq.)  sailed  from  New  York  to  Port  Royal. 
During  the  first  year  72  teachers  were  sent  to  Port 
Royal,  and  four  to  Craney  Island,  Norfolk,  and  Wash- 
ington. The  committee  on  clothing  and  supplies  ex- 
pended the  first  year,  besides  forwarding  a  large 
amount  of  goods  intrusted  to  its  care,  $5,306  93  for 
clothing,  blankets,  etc. 

"As  the  work  of  the  commission  increased,  it  was 
deemed  advisable  to  organize  auxiliary  societies.  In 
1865  there  were  22  such  societies;  and  at  the  present 
time  there  are  not  less  than  70  who  support  teachers, 
besides  a  large  number  raising  small  amounts  and  send- 
ing their  contributions  directly  to  the  commission.  The 
whole  number  of  these  societies  is  now  about  200. 

"In  May,  1866,  when  the  various  societies,  east  and 
west  united  under  the  name  of  the  American  Freed- 
men's    Union  Commission,  the  New  England   society 


AMERICAN    S'ZAVJZftl'  15 f 

took  its  present  name.  For  the  year  ending  April, 
1866,  the  society  reported  180  teachers,  with  10,000 
pupils  under  their  instruction. 

"  Its  schools  are  located  in  the  District  of  Columbia, 
Maryland,  Virginia,  North  and  South  Carolina,  and 
Georgia.  These  were  carried  on  through  the  year 
1867  with  unabated  zeal,  both  its  schools  and  teachers 
ranking  among  the  very  best  in  the  field. 

"  The  total  expenditures  of  the  commission  to  Janu- 
ary 1,  1868,  amount  to  $240,420  81,  besides  distribut- 
ing clothing  and  supplies  to  the  estimated  value  of 
$161,900. 

"  New  York  Branch  American  Freedmen's  Union  Com- 
mission, formerly  National  Freedmen's  Relief  Associa- 
tion.— This  association,  instituted  February  20,  1862, 
has  labored  with  great  zeal  and  energy. 

"  The  first  year  it  had  34  teachers  employed,  mainly 
in  South  Carolina,  and  expended  $5,420  22,  besides 
sending  very  large  quantities  of  clothing  and  books  to 
the  needy  Freedmen. 

"  Its  labors  increased  from  year  to  year,  until  it  be- 
came the  above  branch  in  1866.  It  had  then  125 
schools  in  different  parts  of  the  South,  with  14,048 
pupils  and  222  teachers.  It  also  had  two  orphan 
homes  and  six  industrial  schools.  Besides  this  educa- 
tional work,  the  association  that  year  received  and  dis- 
tributed supplies  for  the  relief  of  physical  want  valued 
at  $194,667  73,  making  their  total  receipts  for  the  year 
nearly  $340,000. 

"  The  Pennsylvania  Branch  of  the  American  Freed- 
men's  Union  Commission,  at  first  called  the  Port  Royal 
Relief  Committee,  and  afterward  known  as  the  Penn- 
sylvania Freedmen's  Relief  Association,  was  organized 
March,  1862.  During  the  first  two  years  it  expended 
$48,459  69  in  cash,  besides  collecting  and  distributing 
$10,000  worth  of  clothing  and  other  needful  articles. 
The  attention  of  this  organization  has  been  given  lat- 
terly to  the  work  of  education  alone.  The  average 
number  of  teachers  employed  by  it  has  been  60  per 
year;  the  highest  number  employed  at  any  one  time 
being  65.     Its  schools  are  located  in  the  District  of 


f52  ORIGIN    rtJVD  HlSZOlil     OF 

Columbia,  and  in  the  States  of  Virginia,  Maryland, 
Tennessee,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  North  and  South 
Carolina.  It  has  expended  monthly  in  support  of  its 
schools  from  $3,500  to  $4,000  In  October,  1865,  there 
was  organized  at  Philadelphia  the  Women's  Central 
Branch  of  the  American  Freedmen's  Aid  Commission. 
This  organization  is  connected  with,  and  in  some  sense 
auxiliary  to,  the  Pennsylvania  branch.  Prom  Octo- 
ber, 1865,  to  October,  1866,  this  organization  raised  by 
donation  and  subscription  $8,347  75,  and  during  the 
same  time  packed  and  forwarded  for  the  benefit  of 
the  Freedmen  186  boxes  of  clothing,  valued  at  about 
$35,000.  The  labors  of  these  associations  have  been 
abundant  and  successful. 

"  The  Baltimore  Association  for  the  Moral  and  Edu- 
cational Improvement  of  the  Colored  People"  commenced 
its  work  in  1864,  and  during  the  last  year  its  receipts 
have  been  $58,608  50,  of  which  $20,000  were  from  the 
mayor  and  city  council  of  Baltimore,  and  $23,371  14 
from  the  colored  people  of  the  State;  the  latter  have- 
also  built,  at  their  own  expense,  from  lumber  furnished 
by  this  Bureau,  50  school-houses,  ready  for  use,  and  30 
others  are  in  course  of  erection,  which  will  compare 
favorably  with  the  country  school-houses  throughout 
the  State;  the  association,  at  its  last  annual  meeting, 
reported  73  schools,  numbering  on  their  rolls  5,000 
scholars.  It  has  recently  provided  a  normal  school 
building  in  Baltimore,  which  will  accommodate  150  pu- 
pils. 

%L  The  Northwestern  Branch  American  Ereedmen's 
Union  Commission,  formerly  Freedmen's  Aid  Commis- 
sion, was  organized  in  the  summer  of  1864.  For 
two  years  this  association  employed  and  supported 
among  the  Freedmen  over  50  teachers. 

"  In  May,  1866,  this  association  merged  itself  into 
the  American  Freedmen's  Union  Commission,  and  since 
that  time  has  been  known  as  the  Northwestern  Branch 
of  that  central  commission.  Its  operations  are  now 
carried  on  under  the  direction  of  an  advisory  commit- 
tee. Leading  men  of  all  classes  and  religious  beliefs 
lend  their  influence  and  contribute  of  their  means  to 


AMERICAN    SLAVERY.  153 

forward  its  objects,  and  its  operations  give  promise  of 
larger  results  than  in  the  past. 

"  Michigan  Branch  of  the  Freedmen's  Union  Commis- 
sion— This  society  was  organized  soon  after  the  war 
began.  Finding  large  numbers  of  colored  orphan 
children  in  the  seceded  States,  who  were  utterly  desti- 
tute of  home  and  friends,  the  society  deemed  it  advis- 
able to  establish  a  home  for  such  in  the  State  of  Michi- 
gan, where  they  might  be  cared  for  at  less  expense  than 
they  could  be  at  the  South.  Accordingly  an  Orphans' 
Home  was  established,  and  on  the  first  consignment 
of  children,  70  or  80  in  number,  the  task  of  care  and 
instruction  began. 

"  The  support  of  the  home  absorbed  all  the  funds  of 
the  commission  until  the  close  of  the  year  1866.  In 
January,  1867,  funds  were  furnished  and  teachers  sent 
to  Columbia,  South  Carolina,  and  Alexandria,  Vir- 
ginia; and  more  recently  they  have  sent  teachers  to 
Louisiana. 

"  The  Western  Freedmeris  Aid  Commission,  co-operat- 
ing with  the  American  Missionary  Association,  was  or- 
ganized in  the  winter  of  1862. 

"  During  that  cold  season  it  gave  its  attention  to 
physical  relief.  In  the  spring  of  1863  the  commission 
sent  a  few  teachers  to  the  camps  of  the  colored  troops 
on  the  Mississippi.  In  1864-65  it  expended  for  schools, 
etc.,  $26,128,  and  for  physical  relief  $101,049  During 
the  year  the  commission  had  58  teachers  in  the  South, 
located  at  the  following  points:  Cairo,  Illinois;  Colum- 
bus, Kentucky;  Island  No.  10,  Memphis,  President's 
Island.  Camp  Holly  Springs,  Fort  Donelson,  Clarks- 
ville,  Providence,  Gallatin,  Nashville,  Murtreesboro, 
Tennessee;  Helena  and  Little  Rock,  Arkansas;  Good- 
rich's Landing  and  Milliken's  Bend.  Louisiana;  Yicks- 
burg  and  Natchez  Mississippi;  and  in  several  colored 
regiments,  and  on  a  few  plantations 

"  1865-66  the  work  was  somewhat  enlarged,  mainly 
by  the  co-operation  of  friends  of  the  Freedmen  in 
Great  Britain,  and  the  commission  had  80  teachers  in 
the  field.  The  estimated  value  of  stores  furnished  for 
physical  relief  was  $78,000. 


/j£  OHIGIJV  S4.JVD    HISTORY    OF 

«  In  1866-67  71  teachers  were  employed,  and  there 
was  expended  in  education  and  physical  relief  $226,- 
939  37.  It  is  proper  to  state  that  a  portion  of  these 
funds  was  for  a  home  in  the  vicinity  of  Cincinnati, 
which  was  a  temporary  refuge  for  children,  and  for  de- 
crepit and  superannuated  persons  driven  from  homes 
where  they  could  no  longer  be  made  profitable. 

"In  the  fall  of  1866  this  society  united  its  agency 
and  office-work  with  the  American  Missionary  Associ- 
ation. In  so  doing  each  association  retains  its  incor- 
porate existence,  but  it  was  considered  by  both  that 
economy  and  harmony  in  the  work  required  this 
union.  Notwithstanding  the  scarcity  of  money,  the 
number  of  teachers  this  past  year  under  the  supervis- 
ion of  the  united  office  has  been  129. 

"  National  Freedmen's  Relief  Association  of  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia. — This  association  was  organized  April 
9,  1862,  and  was  among  the  first  of  the  kind  in  the 
country.  The  object  of  the  gentlemen  forming  it  was 
mainly  to  provide  for  the  bodily  wants  of  the  fugitives 
arriving  in  large  numbers  at  the  capital,  and  to  im- 
prove the  condition  of  those  remaining  here  perma- 
nently. 

"  Afterward,  in  addition  to  the  above,  they  defended 
the  legal  rights  of  Freedmen  in  the  courts,  and  rescued 
them  from  the  remorseless  grasp  of  slave-catchers. 
They  also  labored  earnestly  lor  the  establishment  of 
free  schools  for  colored  people  in  different  sections  of 
the  city.  The  first  school  was  opened  by  the  associa- 
tion on  November  23,  1863.  Soon  they  reported  10 
schools  with  800  pupils,  and  9  evening  schools  with 
about  1000  regular  attendants.  They  have,  for  the  six 
years  past,  done  a  good  work  in  all  respects;  not  only 
by  ordinary  teaching  day  and  night,  but  clothing  the 
naked,  feeding  the  hungry,  establishing  industrial 
schools,  and  soup-houses  in  different  parts  of  the  city; 
and  the  same  is  still  prosecuted  with  zeal,  energy,  and 
success. 

"  The  Soldiers'  Memorial  Society  of  Boston,  Massa- 
chusetts, is  a  continuation  of  the  New  England  branch 
of  the  Sanitary  Commission,  and  commenced  with  the 


AMERICAN    SZATBnr.  f-55 

close  of  the  war.  It  has  devoted  its  labors  to  the  dis- 
tribution of  clothing  and  supplies  throughout  the 
South,  especially  in  Alexandria,  Kichmond,  Hampton, 
Wilmington,  Harker's  Island,  and  Charleston.  It  has 
also  furnished  supplies  to  orphan  asylums,  both  white 
and  colored. 

"  At  several  prominent  centers,  it  has  supported  ref- 
ugees' schools,  employing  in  them  some  75  teachers, 
and  conducting  its  work  with  special  reference  to 
bringing  the  authorities  to  establish  a  system  of  public 
schools.  In  this  school  work  for  poor  whites,  it  is  the 
special  successor  of  the  American  Union  Commission 
of  New  York  City. 

"The  society  has  expended  about  82,500  annually, 
and  has  had  in  the  field  an  average  of  about  50  teach- 
ers and  missionaries. 

"  0.  S  General  Assembly  Presbyterian  Church. — This 
body  operates  through  a  standing  committee,  who 
made  their  first  report  in  May,  1866. 

"  The  following  summary  will  exhibit  the  results 
for  the  year  ending  May  1,  1868:  Funds  expended, 
$63,959  62,  of  which  the  Freedmen  gave  $8,264  38; 
missionary  and  teachers,  165;  of  these  110  were  col- 
ored persons;  day  schools,  53;  pupils  in  schools,  2,889; 
Sabbath-schools,  51 ;  pupils  in  Sabbath-schools,  3,812; 
total  schools,  104;  pupils,  6,701 ;  church  buildings  com- 
pleted or  begun  during  the  year,  31;  teachers'  houses, 
7;  lots  for  church  buildings  secured,  7. 

"Teachers  labor  five  days  in  the  week,  six  hours  a 
day,  and  generally  have  night  schools  three  nights  of 
the  week.  One  day  of  the  week  is  usually  spent  in 
visiting  the  people,  and  in  teaching  them  to  order  their 
households.  They  hold  prayer- meetings,  teach  Sab- 
bath-schools, and  assist  catechists  in  the  conduct  of 
Sabbath  services  in  the  absence  of  the  ministers. 

"No  difficulty  has  been  found  in  enlisting  teachers. 
Females,  with  the  true  spirit  of  missions,  are  to  be 
found  in  all  parts  of  the  church,  who  are  ready  to  en- 
ter the  work,  and  bear  all  its  trials  and  reproaches, 
upon  the  promise  of  a  bare  support  The  committee 
bear  testimony  to  the  singular  fidelity  and  moral  hero- 


/5G  ORIGIN  ^iJVT)    HIS2 Oft Y    OF 

ism  with  which  these   teachers  have  performed  their 
work. 

"  Fieedmens  Aid  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Clmrch. — This  society  was  organized  in  August  1866, 
and  entered  at  once  upon  the  educational  work  among 
the  Freedmen  ll  established  schools  in  the  States  of 
Virginia,  Keivueky,  Tennessee,  Mississippi,  Louisiana, 
Alabama,  and  fte<  rgia.  In  these  States  this  society, 
at  the  date  of  its  la-t  report,  had  29  schools,  in  which 
were  employed  51  teachers,  having  under  their  care 
about  5,000  pupils. 

:  In  us  first  year  the  society  collected  and  expended, 
in  cash,  goods  bo.  ks  etc.,  over  $33,134.  The  field  of 
its  operations  has  steadily  widened  and  its  labors  are 
being  crowned  with  abundant  success 

{i Baptist  Borne  Missionary  Society. — This  society  has, 
since  the  war  closed,  sustained  schools  for  the  educa- 
tion of  colored  children,  so  far  as  special  provision  for 
their  support  has  been  made. 

"Thirty  of  their  missionaries  and  assistants  have 
devoted  themselves  wholly,  or  in  part,  to  the  education 
of  colored  preachers.  Their  schools  have  been  at 
Nashvile,  Memphis,  New  Orleans,  Beaufort,  S.  C  ,  Ra- 
leigh and  Charlotte,  N.  C,  Alexandria,  and  Wash- 
ington. 

"  They  have  all  been  engaged  in  giving  elementary 
and  theological  training  to  preachers.  The  school  in 
Washington  has  an  average  of  25  ministerial  students 
fur  the  last  year,  and  the  principal  says: 

1 '  I  have  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  one  class 
of  colored  men  have  had  a  year  of  thorough  discipline. 
As  many  as  20  of  them  have  education  enough  to  teach 
a  good  school.  I  am  glad  to  say,  also  that  the  students 
seem  to  grow  in  grace  as  well  as  in  knowledge.  They 
teach  in  school  or  go  among  the  poor  every  Sabbath 
afternoon  ' 

"  The  teacher  of  the  Nashville  school  writes: 

"'They  will  not  turn  out  great  theologians;  but, 
with  the  help  of  God,  they  will  do  much  for  their  race. 
I  have  heard  some  of  them  preach,  and  have  been 
amazed  as  well  as  pleased  to  perceive  with  what  accu- 


AMEHICAjY   SLAVERY.  757 

racy  they  reproduce  in  their  own  language  the  ideas 
conveyed  in  the  recitation  room.' 

"  Home  Missionary  Society  of  the  Free  Will  Baptist 
Church. — The  work  of  this  society  has  been  conducted 
by  two  branches,  east  and  west 

"  In  the  east  it  is  confined  mainly  to  the  Shenandoah 
Valley.  This  valley  is  the  home  of  30,000  Frcedmen, 
and  is  not  only  the  garden  of  Virginia,  but  the  colored 
people  there  are  far  more  intelligent  than  where  they 
have  been  herded  together  further  south. 

"Twenty  missionaries  and  teachers  commenced  in 
in  1867  to  labor  in  this  valley,  and  about  the  same 
number  at  the  west.#  The  whole  number  of  pupils 
taught  in  all  their  schools,  for  the  year,  has  been  3,467, 
varying  in  age  from  4  to  70  years.  A  very  promising 
normal  school  has  been  commenced  at  Harper's  Ferry. 

"  It  has  been  the  policy  of  this  society,  from  the  com- 
mencement of  its  work  among  Freedmen,  to  have  some 
portion  of  these  laborers  devote  their  whole  time  to 
missionary  work,  and  to  the  formation  of  churches. 
Their  teachers  and  missionaries  deserve  great  praise 
for  their  faithfulness.  A  number  of  colored  preachers 
are  employed,  who  have  proved  themselves  worthy  of 
the  respect  of  the  Christian  Church. 

"New  England  Yearly  Meeting  of  Friends. — This  so- 
ciety, through  a  select  committee,  has  labored  with 
great  success  for  the  last  four  years,  mainly  in  the  city 
of  Washington. 

"  They  purchased  an  estate  on  Thirteenth  Street  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  year  1864,  and  soon  after  opened 
a  store  for  selling  goods  to  the  colored  people  at  cost; 
employed  persons  to  distribute  needed^ supplies  among 
the  suffering;  commenced  an  industrial  school  for 
teaching  ba-ket-making,  straw-braiding,  etc. ;  and  es- 
tablished a  Sabbath  and  evening  school.  The  next 
year  day  schools  were  opened,  which  increased  rapidly 
in  attendance,  and  were  ably  and  faithfully  sustained. 

"  The  Pennsylvania  Friends'  Freedmen 's  Relief  Associ- 
ation of  Philadelphia  was  organized  on  the  11th  day 
of  November,  1863;  its  object   being  to  'relieve    the 


f5S  OKIGIJV  s4.JVft    HISIO'RY    OF 

wants,  provide  for  the  instruction,  and  protect  the 
rights  of  the  Freedmen.' 

"During  the  year  1865  it  supported  a  number  of  ex- 
cellent schools  in  a  large  building,  erected  by  itself,  in 
the  city  of  Washington.  When,  however,  schools 
were  provided  for  here  in  a  large  measure  by  other  so- 
cieties, the  Friends  withdrew  from  the  field,  and  gave 
their  attention  and  efforts  more  especially  to  the 
Freedmen  of  Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  and 
a  portion  of  Delaware.  They  now  operate  mainly  in 
North  Carolina  and  Virginia. 

"From  the  date  of  its  organization  to  April,  1867, 
this  association  has  expended  in  cash  $210,500;  dis- 
tributing garments  to  the  number  of  118,453  pieces. 
The  average  number  of  schools  supported  has  been  18; 
scholars,  4,300;  teachers,  44. 

"Organizations  among  the  colored  people. — The  colored 
people  of  the  country  have  shown  no  lack  of  interest 
in  the  matter  of  laboring,  and  giving  of  their  scanty 
means  for  the  education  of  their  race  now  made  free. 

"In  this  connection  the  efforts  of  the  African  Civil- 
ization Society,  and  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  are  worthy  of  special  mention  In  the  an- 
nual appeal  of  the  former  organization  for  1868,  it  is 
stated  that  2,500  freed  people  have  been  taught  in  its 
schools  during  the  past  year,  and  thousands  more  of  an 
older  class  have  been  reached  and  instructed  in  the 
duties  of  their  new  life  of  freedom. 

"The  Missionary  Society  of  the  African.  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  has  sustained,  for  the  past  four  years, 
74  missions  among  the  Freedmen;  and  in  co-operation 
with  other  educational  organizations  working  in  the 
South,  has  supported  60  schools.  The  children  and 
older  persons  attending  the  Sabbath-schools  connected 
with  its  churches  number  40,000.  The  libraries  ot 
the  schools  contain  39,119  volumes. 

"The  whole  expenditure  of  the  society  for  all  pur- 
poses, during  the  past  fiscal  year,  amounted  to  $130,- 
276  46,  all  of  which  was  collected  from  colored  per- 
sons. It  received  and  expended,  from  1862  to  1867, 
$36,383  06.   Its  work,  as  arranged  for  the  coming  year 


AMERICAN    SLAYER r.  /59 

will  require  not  less  than  $50,000,  to  obtain  which  they 
make  a  hopeful  appeal  to  the  benevolent  public." 

In  the  above  voluntary  agencies  for  the  education 
of  the  Freedmen  where  all  have  done  so  nobly,  it  is 
impossible  to  discriminate  in  the  bestowal  of  merited 
praise.  All  have  labored  untiringly,  and  with  wonder- 
ful success,  and  deserve  the  lasting  gratitude  of  man- 
kind for  their  munificent  and  disinterested  charities. 

In  addition  to  these  there  are  a  number  of  church 
organizations,  purely  sectarian  in  their  basis  and  in- 
structions, whose  labors  have  likewise  been  amply 
blest  in  the  conversion  and  education  of  this  ignorant 
class  of  people.  As  the  most  prominent  of  these,  we 
will  give  a  brief  sketch  of 

"  The  United  Presbyterian  Board  of  Missions  to  the 
Freedmen  of  the  South." — This  society  was  organized  in 
Allegheny  City,  Pennsylvania,  on  July  4,  1863.  Two 
corps  of  teachers  were  sent  out  in  the  fall  of  that  year, 
one  of  which  was  located  at  Goodrich  Landing,  Mis- 
sissippi. These  schools  continued  and  prospered  for 
several  months,  when  the  government  protection  was 
withdrawn,  and  most  of  the  contrabands  removed  to 
Davis'  Bend.  The  teachers  were  then  transferred  to 
that  point,  and  continued  the  schools  for  two  years, 
with  headquarters  in  the  house  of  Jefferson  Davis. 
After  the  close  of  the  war,  the  schools  at  the  Bend 
were  abandoned.  The  other  corps  was  located  at 
Vicksburg,  Mississippi.  Their  schools  were  well  at- 
tended and  great  good  was  done.  In  the  early  part  of 
1863  schools  were  commenced  in  Memphis,  Tennessee, 
but  were  in  1865  given  up,  as  other  associations  seemed 
adequate  to  carry  on  the  schools.  In  the  same  year 
schools  were  opened  on  President's  Island,  and  in  Nash- 
ville, Tennessee.     The  station  at  the  latter  place  has 


/GO  OltlGTJY   siJTT)    HISTORY    OF 

been  a  great  success  from  the  first,  a  colored  congrega- 
tion having  been  organized  there.  In  1867  a  station 
was  established  at  Leavenworth,  Kansas,  and  a  congre- 
gation organized  with  much  success.  Another  con- 
gregation of  colored  people  had  been  previously  formed 
in  Vicksburg. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  work  among  the  Freed- 
men,  over  150  persons  have  labored  under  the  care  of 
the  board,  many  of  them  for  three  years  consecutively. 
The  number  taught  each  year  has  been  from  1500  to 
2000.  At  present  there  are  over  1600  pupils  in  the 
United  Presbyterian  schools,  and  about  an  equal  num- 
ber receive  Sabbath-school  instruction. 

There  are  also  a  number  of  other  sectarian  societies, 
of  which  we  would  be  pleased  to  make  honorable  men- 
tion, but  the  data  of  their  operations  are  not  at 
hand. 

The  Roman  Catholics  are  likewise  fully  alive  to  the 
importance  of  securing  a  foothold  among  the  Freed- 
men,  and  the  College  l'De  Propaganda,"  at  Romeh,  as 
carefully  considered  the  field,  as  is  shown  in  the  fol- 
lowing extract  relative  to  the  proceedings  of  the  coun- 
cil of  Roman  Catholics  recently  held  in  Baltimore: 

"The  consideration  of  the  condition  of  the  Freedmen 
was  pressed  upon  the  council  by  a  letter  from  Cardinal 
Barnabo,  prefect  of  the  Propaganda  at  Rome.  The 
points  to  be  discussed  are  the  appointment  of  an  apos- 
tolic prefect,  with  episcopal  powers,  for  the  s-pecial  su- 
perintendence of  missions  among  the  blacks;  the  erec- 
tion of  separate  churches  for  these  people;  the  admis- 
sion of  colored  men  to  the  priesthood;  the  establish- 
ment of  convents  of  colored  nuns,  and  of  schools  for 
children;  and  finally,  the  introduction  of  congrega- 
tional singing  in  the  vernacular  into  negro  churches." 

Catholic  schools  are  numerous  throughout  the  South, 


AMERICAN    SLAVES  T,  fOf 

and  the  teachers  and  priests  of  this  denomination  have 
labored  assiduously  and  with  great  success. 

"The  Presbyterian  Committee  of  Home  Missions,'"  con- 
sisting of  fifteen  persons,  was  organized  as  a  perma- 
nent committee,  intrusted  with  the  prosecution  of  the 
work  of  home  missions,  by  the  (New  School)  General 
Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  in  May,  1861 
and  was  duty  incorporated  by  the  legislature  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  in  April,  1862. 

The  general  assembly  of  1868  charged  this  commit- 
tee with  the  work  among  the  Freedmen;  which,  in 
^November,  1868,  was  made  a  separate  department  and 
intrusted  provisionally  to  the  superintendence  cf  the 
chairman,  Rev.  Ei.  F.  Hatfield,  JJ.  D.  It  is  now  less 
than  four  months  since  the  work  of  this  department 
was  commenced  in  the  South,  yet  it  has  already  in 
commission  3  general  agents  (one  of  them  colored),  7 
missionaries  (two  of  them  colored),  and  61  teachers 
(of  whom  twenty-five  are  colored).  It  maintains  55 
schools,  in  which  are  taught  more  than  3000  pupils. 
The  schools  are  mostly  in  Tennessee;  several  are  in 
the  Shenandoah  Valley,  Virginia;  and  others  are  in 
Maryland,  District  of  Columbia,  North  Carolina,  South 
Carolina,  Alabama,  Florida,  and  Missouri.  With  such 
encouraging  results  at  the  outset,  the  committee  in  the 
ensuing  year  will  press  forward  to  a  more  extended 
work.  The  New  School  Presbyterian  Church  is  fully 
committed  to  do  her  part  in  elevating  and  evangeliz- 
ing the  colored  people  of  the  South,  and  no  denomina- 
tion of  Christians  in  the  land  in  respect  to  the  past  of 
slavery  has  a  fairer  record. 

We  also  give  a  list  of  the  various  colleges,  universi- 
ties, and  normal  or  high  schools  for  the  education  of 

15 


/62  OftJGJJV   AJVD    HI  S  2  031 T    OF 

Freedmen,  together  with  several  for  colored  persons  in 
the  Free  States: 

"  Howard  University. —  Howard  University,  Wash- 
ington,!). C,  incorporated  by  Congress  March  2,  1867, 
is  designed  to  afford  special  opportunities  for  a  higher 
education  to  the  newly  enfranchised  of  the  South. 

"  The  trustees,  soon  after  obtaining  their  charter, 
purchased  150  acres  of  land  in  a  very  favorable  loca- 
tion near  the  city,  and  by  selling  about  two-thirds  of 
it  for  building  lots,  secured,  with  a  little  additional  help, 
the  means  of  payment  for  the  whole,  reserving  a  very 
eligible  site  for  university  buildings,  with  a  public 
square  and  park.  Here,  by  the  aid  of  educational  funds 
ot  the  Freedmen's  Bureau,  there  have  been  erected  two 
large  buildings;  one  for  recitation  rooms,  philosophical 
chamber,  laboratory,  library,  offices  and  chapel;  and 
the  other  for  dormitories  and  a  boarding  hall. 

'•A  competent  number  of  able  instructors  has  been 
elected,  and  others  are  to  be  chosen  if  the  means  for 
their  support  can  be  obtained.  A  department  prepar- 
atory for  college  and  to  fit  teachers  was  opened  in  May, 
1867.  This  has  been  very  prosperous,  having  over  a 
hundred  pupils  the  firstyear;  and  asmall  college  class, 
to  which  additions  are  expected,  has  been  formed.  Pre- 
liminary lectures  on  theological  study  are  given,  to 
answer  a  present  demand  in  the  case  of  several  who 
have  not  completed  the  usual  academic  course. 

"  The  medical  department  will  be  opened  in  the  com- 
ing autumn,  and  arrangements  have  been  made  for 
commencing  the  law  department. 

"  The  expenses  for  students  are  fixed  very  low,  and 
measures  have  been  taken  to  provide  manual  labor, 
that  any  one  can  earn,  in  part,  the  means  of  support; 
also,  in  exceptional  cases,  to  remit  more  or  less  from 
the  bills  of  tuition  and  room  rent.  Applications  are 
constantly  coming  from  various  parts  of  the  South  for 
the  admission  of  pupils  to  all  the  departments. 

"  While  making  special  provision  for  Freedmen  and 
white  refugees,  as  demanded  by  the  aid  furnished  by 


alMEftldiJV    SLAVEftl.  .GS 

the    Freed  men's    Bureau,    still    all    classes,    including 
both  sexes,  are  carefully  provided  *or. 

k-  It  is  the  design  ot  the  trustees  to  build  u[)  at  the 
nation's  capital  a  large  and  efficient  institution,  amply 
sufficient  for  supplying  the  demand  of  this  new  era, 
and  to  give  intelligent  youth,  whatever  may  have  been 
their  previous  condition,  the  benefits  of  a  thorough 
collegiate  and  professional  education. 

'•The  great  want  of  the  institution  now,  is  funds  for 
scholarships  of  §150  each,  the  endowment  of  professor- 
ships, and  tor  purchase  of  books,  apparatus  and  other 
important  material. 

tk  Fisk  school,  Nashville,  Tennessee — This  school  was 
founded  by  the  American  Missionary  Association  and 
Western  Freedmen's  Aid  Commission.  In  August, 
1867  (the  city  of  Nashville  having  provided  tree  schools 
for  all  classes),  a  charter  was  secured  for  the  Fisk  Uni- 
versi'y,  and  academic  and  normal  departments  were 
opened  the  tollowing  September.  Its  hist  catalogue 
shows,  whole  number  enrolled  412;  in  the  grammar 
school.  85.  academic  department,  88;  normal  depart- 
ment, 41.  The  normal  pupils  are  mostly  from  differ- 
ent portions  of  the  State,  and  board  with  the  family  in 
the  Mission  Home.  Erich  normal  pupil  teaches  in  the 
model  school  at  least  one-half  hour  per  day,  under  the 
direction  of  the  principal. 

"A  commercial  department,  under  the  management 
of  a  competent  master,  has  recently  been  added  to  the 
university.  Special  attention  will  be  given  to  book- 
keeping, penmanship,  and  kindred  branches,  to  fit 
young  men  and,  women  for  the  transaction  of  ordinary 
legal,  mechanical,  and  commercial  business 

1  The  average  daily  attendance  in  all  the  depart- 
ments has  been  232. 

"The  property  secured  for  the  university  by  the' as- 
sociation and  the  Bureau  is  valued  at  $40,000 

lt  Btrea  College.  —  This  institution  commenced  in 
1858,  at  Berea  Madison  County,  Kentucky,  was  the 
outgrowth  of  previous  missionary  labor,  and  one  of 
the  first  efforts  south  of  the  Ohio  to  f>und  an  educa- 
tional institution  whose  privileges  should  be  extended 


fOU  ORIGIN  rtWD    IflSlORY    OF 

to  all.  without  distinction  of  race.  During  the  war  this 
school  was  suspended;  but  it,  reopened  two  years  ago, 
and  has  since  had  a  vigorous  growth  The  last  cata- 
logue gives  the  names  of  301  students,  one-third  of 
whom  are  white,  and  the  remainder  colored.  Twenty- 
four  are  in  the  normal  department. 

'•  The  institution  furnishes  labor  for  industrious 
young  men  sufficient  to  pay  a  portion  of  their  ex- 
penses. 

u  Although  the  capacity  of  the  college  to  accommo- 
date students  has  been  more  than  doubled  the  past 
year,  it  is  still  insufficient  to  meet  the  wants  of  those 
who  are  seeking  its  privileges. 

'•  Berea  deserves  credit  tor  its  noble  struggle,  for 
years  against  pro  slavery  prejudice,  and  should  now 
have  a  liberal  patronage.  It  lias  an  able  corps  of  in- 
structors. The  president  is  its  original  founder,  Rev. 
John  Gr  Fee,  and  the  institution  has  been,  from  the 
first,  under  the  patronage  of  the  American  Missionary 
Association. 

"Bid  die  Memorial,  Institute. — This  institute  is  located 
in  the  city  of  Charlotte,  North  Carolina  It  was 
founded  by  a  generous  donation  from  the  widow  of  the 
late  Henry  J.  Biddle,  of  Philadelphia,  who  gaVe  his 
life  to  his  country  in  the  great  rebellion. 

"A  beautiful  site  of  eight  acres  has  been  secured  near 
the  city,  the  gift  of  Colonel  W  R.  Myers,  a  citizen  of 
Charlotte,  and  the  main  building  is  now  being  erected. 
Two  houses  for  the  professors  have  been  completed 
free  of  debt.  Eight  thousand  dollars  are  needed  to 
complete  the  whole  work. 

'Since  the  lGth  of  hist  September,  when  the  first  ses- 
sion opened,  43  students  have  been  admitted.  Great 
care  has  been  exercised  in  admitting  students,  and  all 
of  them  are  required  to  spend  part  of  their  time  in 
teaching  among  the  people.  The  institutiou  has  an 
incorporated  board  of  trustees  under  the  laws  of  North 
Carolina. 

"  The  Freedmen  themselves  have  taken  hold  of  this 
enterprise  with  great  vigor,  and  are  spreading  its  rep- 
utation far  and  wide;  but  their  absolute  poverty  pre- 


oiMEftlCAjY   SLAVERY.  fG5 

vents  them  from  actually  doing  much  toward  its  ma- 
terial prosperity.  If  means  were  furnished,  more 
than  a  hundred  promising  young  men  could  be  gath- 
ered to  the  Biddle  Institute  during  its  next  session. 

"High  School,  Quindaro,  Kansas. — This  institution 
was  established  under  the  auspices  of  the  Old  School 
Presbyterian  Assembly's  Committee.  It  is  situated  on 
the  west  bank  of  the  Missouri  River,  on  the  line  of  the 
Pacific  Railroad,  and  is  thus  of  easy  access  from  every 
quarter.  The  last  catalogue  shows  180  pupils,  95  of 
whom  are  males  and  85  females. 

"  The  institution  has  accumulated  property,  consist- 
ing of  the  seminary  building  of  stone,  22  by  48  feet, 
with  two  stories  and  basement,  and  three  dwelling 
houses  for  teachers,  valued  at  $G,ZQ0.  On  this  there 
is  a  debt  of  $500. 

"Efforts  are  now  being  made  to  obtain  an  efficient 
principal,  who  shall  be  able  to  give  instruction  to  a 
theological  class.  Also,  to  secure  land  for  farming  and 
gardening  purposes,  that  the  students  may  be  in- 
structed in  agriculture  and  trained  to  habits  of  in- 
dustry. 

"Lincoln  University,  Oxford,  Pa. — This  university  has 
now  an  efficient  faculty  of  eight  members  and  115  stu- 
dents. Forty  of  these  are  Freedmen.  These  students 
are  gathered  from  15  different  States,  a  fact  which 
evinces  the  widespread  influence  of  the  institution. 
Theie  are  at  present  in  the  theological  department  15 
pupils;  in  the  collegiate,  82;  preparatory,  18;  total, 
115.  Four  professorships  are  already  endowed,  attd 
above  $10,000  is  needed  to  increase  the  accommoda- 
tions made  necessary  by  the  growing  success  of  the 
university. 

"Avery  College. — Avery  College,  in  Allegheny  City, 
Pennsylvania,  was  built  and  donated  to  the  trustees  of 
the  institution  by  the  late  Rev.  Charles  Avery,  for  the 
education  of  colored  youth  of  both  sexes,  and  was  in- 
corporated by  the  legislature  of  the  State  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, A.  D  1849.  The  edifice  is  attractive,  conven- 
ient, and  ample  in  its  proportions,  and  furnished  with 


fG6  O'RIGJJV  XJV2)    instoRr    OF 

a  fine  library,  and  a  good  assortment  of  philosophical, 
chemical,  and  astronomical  apparatus 

"  The  course  of  study  is  substantially  that  adopted 
by  other  colleges  in  our-  country. 

"Every  person  admitted  must  give  satisfactory  testi- 
monials of  good  moral  character,  and  those  coming 
from  other  institutions  must  present  a  certificate  ot 
honorable  dismission. 

"The  academical  year  is  divided  into  three  terms, 
as  follows:  The  fall  term,  beginning  on  the  second 
Monday  in  September  and  continuing  15  weeks;  vaca- 
tion lor  two  weeks.  The  winter  term,  beginning  on 
the  first  Monday  of  January  and  continuing  13  weeks; 
vacation  of  two  weeks  "The  spring  term,  beginning 
on  the  third  Monday  in  April  and^  continuing  \t 
weeks;  vacation  of  eight  weeks. 

"  This  college  is  not  under  the  control  of  any  relig- 
ious denomination,  although  its  charter  provides  that 
all  its  officers  shall  be  professors  ot  Christianity.  It 
is  in  no  way  connected  with  any  sectarian  organiza- 
tion, yet  the  design  of  its  founders  was  to  incorporate 
the  teaching  of  Christian  precepts  with  its  appropriate 
course  of  studies. 

"-Hampton  Normal  and  Agricultural  Institute. — Under 
the  auspices  of  the  American  Missionary  Association 
this  institution  was  opened  in  April,  18(38.  It  received 
an  incorporation  the  following  September  k  for  the  pur- 
pose of  preparing  youth  of  the  South  without  distinc- 
tion of  color,  for  the  work  of  organizing  and  instruct- 
ing schools.'  The  extreme  poverty  of  those  who 
needed  such  an  institution,  and  the  value  of  self-help 
as  a  means  of  culture  and  true  manhood,  induced  the 
association  to  purchase  a  farm  of  120  acres  and  pro- 
vide it  with  all  appliances  of  profitable  labor. 

"This  farm  lies  upon  Hampton  Roads.  The  school 
and  home  buildings,  valued  at  820,000,  occupy  a  beau- 
tiful site  upon  the  shore.  They  are  so  furnished  and 
arranged  as  to  offer  students  the  aids  to  right  living 
which  belong  to  a  cultivated  Christian  home. 

"  In  the  farm  work,  under  the  constant  direction  of 
an  educated  practical  farmer,  the  graduates  of  this  in- 


AMEftlCriJY    SLAVER T.  167 

stitution  will  have  learned  both  the  theory  and  prac- 
tice of  the  most  profitable  methods  of  agriculture. 

"The  female  students  do  all  the  housework  of  the 
boarding  department.  Thus,  in  the  home,  on  the  farm, 
and  in  the  school-room,  the  students  have  the  oppor- 
tunity to  learn  the  three  great  lessons  of  life — how  to 
live,  how  to  labor,  and  how  to  teach  others. 

"Pupils  are  received  between  the  ages  of  15  and  25; 
if  younger  or  older,  a  special  arrangement  will  be 
made.  They  must  enter  with  the  intention  to  become 
teachers  and  to  remain  through  the  whole  course  of 
study.  Each  student  is  on  probation  for  three  months 
after  admission.  Fifty-two  were  in  the  boarding  de- 
partment of  this  institution  the  last  year. 

"It  is  required  that  students  shall  abstain  entirely 
from  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  and  tobacco,  and 
improve  the  fine  opportunity  for  sea  and  fresh-water 
bathing,  and  always  govern  themselves  by  the  laws  of 
good  deportment  which  belong  to  every  well-ordered, 
cheerful  Christian   household." 

" Results  of  labor. — The  first  crop  has  been  planted 
and  gathered  under  all  the  disadvantages  of  an  exper- 
iment, and  with  a  very  heavy  outlay  in  recovering  a 
farm  wasted  by  war,  stocking  it  with  fruit  trees,  small 
fruits,  hotbeds,  etc.,  and  erecting  a  barn  and  an  entire 
new  fence,  amounting  to  $4,059. 

"The  gross  sales  of  produce  in  the  northern  markets 
have  been  $2156  56;  crops  now  in  the  ground  (esti- 
mated), $1800  00;  total,  $3956  56. 

"The  19  male  students  who  entered  in  April  earned 
during  the  term  and  spring  vacation  an  average  of 
$1  10  per  week  above  their  expenses.  The  earnings 
of  the  13  female  students  fell  a  little  short  of  their 
expenses. 

"In  the  summer  vacation  (six  weeks)  male  students 
earned  $3  per  week  above  expenses;  females  from  50 
cents  to  $1. 

"It  is  believed  that  this  institution  offers  superior 
advantages  to  all.  Youth,  who  are  in  earnest  and  who 
come  with  a  stout  heart  and  two  willing  hands,  ma}' 
feel  that  it  is  entirely  possible  for  them  here  to  push 


f6S  ORIGIN  ri.  J\"&    HIST0R2     OF 

their  way  to  a  good  preparation  for  the  life  work  be- 
them. 

uSt.  Augustine  Normal  School. — The  St.  Augustine 
Normal  School,  under  the  charge  of  the  Freedmen's 
Committee  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  is  lo- 
cated at  Ealeigh,  North  Carolina.  It  was  incorporated 
in  July,  1867,  but  did  not  commence  operations  until 
January,  1868.  During  the  first  session  there  were  in 
attendance  26  pupils.  The  second  term  commenced 
September  28,  with  20  pupils.  There  is  now  a  pros- 
pect of  a  very  large  increase. 

"The  trustees  have  purchased  100  acres  of  land  in  a 
most  desirable  location  adjoining  the  city,  and  a  com- 
modious edifice  is  now  going  up.  It  will  furnish  ac- 
commodation for  at  least  150  pupils.  The  building  is 
in  a  most  beautiful  grove,  and  is  at  once  convenient 
and  retired. 

•'It  is  purposed  at  the  earliest  moment  possible  to 
erect  a  building  near  the  normal  school  as  a  home  for 
pupils  who  come  from  a  distance. 

"There  is  on  hand  and  promised  to  the  institution  a 
fund  of  about  $43,000,  which  will  be  set  apart  as  a  per- 
manent endowment. 

"National  Theological  Institute  and  University,  Wash- 
ington, District  of  Columbia.— This  institute  commenced 
its  organized  work  among  the  Freedmen  in  1864. 
Eevs.  Solomon  Peck,  1).  D.,  and  J.  W.  Parker,  D.  D., 
were  its  pioneer  laborers.  The  former  began  the  first 
Freedmen's  school  south  of  Virginia,  at  Beaufort,  South 
Carolina,  in  1862.  The  latter  made  early  public  ef- 
forts and  journeys  South,  having  for  his  object  the  bet- 
ter instruction  of  the  preachers  of  the  colored  people. 

"In  May  of  1867  an  executive  committee  was  con- 
stituted to  adjust  all  pre-existing  agencies,  and  the  in- 
stitute, mainly  under  the  care  of  the  gentlemen  in 
Boston  of  the  Baptist  denomination,  assumed  its  pres- 
ent form. 

"Their  total  expenditure  for  the  year  ending  April 
23,  1868,  was  $18,368  09. 

"The  work  is  not  simply  educational,  for  the  main- 
tenance of  secular  schools,  but  is  missionary  and  evan- 


gelizing,  by  means  of  a  native  ministry,  trained,  en- 
Tightened,  and  thoroughly  finished. 

"  The  institute  has  schools  lor  this  purpose  at  the 
following  places:  Washington,  with  a  whole  number 
in  attendance  during  the  first  five  months  of  125; 
Richmond,  with  an  attendance,  night  and  day,  of  88; 
St.  Helena,  South  Carolina,  with  50  pupils;  Augusta, 
Georgia,  with  about  60. 

"  These  pupils  are  nearly  all  mature  men,  of  good 
native  talent,  many  of  whom  have  for  a  long  time  been 
preachers  of  the  gospel  among  their  brethren.  In- 
struction is  adapted  accordingly;  extremely  element- 
ary in  many  respects,  but  as  time  passes  and  the  op- 
portunity of  these  men  presents,  and  especially  as 
young  men  come  from  the  children's  schools,  instruc- 
tion will  become  more  extended. 

"Great  good  must  ultimately  result  from  the  labors 
of  such  an  institute,  and  we  may  hope  it  will  in  time 
grow  to  be,  as  its  name  implies,  a  broadly  endowed  and 
thorough  university. 

"  Miss  M.  R.  Mann's  School,  Washington,  D.  (7.— This 
school,  though  small,  and  until  recently  a  private  en- 
terprise, is  an  admirably  conducted  institution.  It 
commenced  December  5,  1865,  Through  the  influence 
of  the  friends  of  the  Hon.  Horace  Mann,  in  Massachu- 
setts, a  school-house,  with  the  best  appliances,  was  fur- 
nished. A  small  tuition  fee  was  charged,  but  many 
pupils  were  taken  gratuitously,  particularly  those  wish- 
ing to  become  teachers. 

"  The  teacher  is  a  niece  of  Mr.  Mann,  and  is  well 
qualified  for  her  charge.  "Visitors  are  surprised  with 
the  beautifully  furnished  room,  the  neatness  and  order 
preserved,  and  the  high  character  of  the  recitations. 

"All  ages  have  been  admitted,  that  the  school  might 
contain  within  itself  its  own  experimental  class  "for 
practice  in  teaching;  and  thus  those  who  never  entered 
for" that  purpose  become  qualified  for  the  work. 

"  The  average    registered    attendance   for  the   past 
three  years  has  been  about  40,  and  a  number  of  teach- 
ers   have   already  been   sent    out   from   the   school,  all 
but  one  of  whom  are  now  successfully  employed. 
16 


770  ORIGIN  AJVD    IHSIOftr    Or 

"  The  school  is  at  present  under  the  direction  of  the 
school  board  of  Washington,  and  they  propose  to  have 
it  receive  the  most  advanced  pupils  from  several  of  the 
public  schools.  This  plan  carried  out  practically  will 
make  it,  with  the  patronage  these  trustees  can  bestow, 
a  model  school,  and  one  of  the  best  for  normal  instruc- 
tion in  the  city. 

"■Talladega  Normal  School. — Talladega  is  in  North- 
ern Alabama,  just  at  the  upper  line  of  the  best  cotton 
lands  and  mineral  regions.  It  is  a  central  and  excel- 
lent location  for  educational  purposes.  Here  the 
Cleveland  Freedmen's  Aid  Commission  had  maintained 
an  excellent  school  since  1865,  where  most  of  the  chil- 
dren in  the  vicinity  received  primary  instruction. 

'•  In  November,  1867,  the  American  Missionary  As- 
sociation opened  the  Talladega  Normal  School  with  140 
pupils.  It  now  numbers  231,  with  the  best  prospects 
of  success.  A  large  three-story  brick  building  is  pro- 
vided, with  30  acres  of  land.  Normal  students  are 
carefully  instructed  in  the  rudiments  of  two  or  three 
of  the  most  needed  branches,  and  by  practice  in  drill- 
ing the  younger  pupils  in  those  branches.  Nine 
months  of  such  training  in  the  elements  makes  of  an 
earnest  person  a  more  than  average  teacher  for  the  or- 
dinary schools.  Fifteen  teachers  have  already  been 
sent  out  from  this  institution,  nearly  all  of  whom  are 
conducting  both  day  and  Sabbath-schools,  in  which 
their  efforts  prove  to  be  very  acceptable.  It  is  ex- 
pected that  this  normal  class  will  be  increased  to  50  or 
60  during  the  coming  term. 

"  Storer  Normal  School. — The  Storer  Normal  School 
is  located  at  Harper's  Ferry,  West  Virginia,  and  is 
under  the  patronage  of  the  Free-will  Baptist  denomi- 
nation. It  has  43  pupils  enrolled,  with  an  average  at- 
tendance of  32.  Sixteen  of  the  pupils  are  over  16 
years  of  age. 

uAn  eligible  site  has  been  purchased  by  the  society 

having  the  work  in  charge,  and  it  is  expected  that  a 

school  of  a  high  order  will  here  be  gathered.    Suitable 

buildings  have  been  furnished  by  the  government. 

"A  benevolent  gentleman,  John  Storer,  Esq.,  of  San- 


AMERICAN   SLATER T.  /?  i 

ford,  Me.,  has  given  $10,000  to  assist  this  undertaking, 
on  condition  that  an  equul  amount  shall  be  raised  for 
the  same  purpose  on  or  before  January  1,  1869.  The 
larger  part  of  this  sum  is  already  secured,  and  agents 
are  still  at  work  obtaining  funds,  with  very  cheering 
success. 

'•The  location  of  this  school  is  excellent,  its  man- 
agers are  enterprising,  and  its  prospects  are  full  of  en- 
couragement. 

"Richmond  Normal  and  High  School. — In  October, 
1867,  the  Richmond  Normal  and  High  School  was  fully 
organized  and  commenced  operations.  It  is  conducted 
by  a  board  of  directors  under  a  charter  from  the  cir- 
cuit court  of  Richmond.  The  principal  building  is  a 
handsome  new  brick  edifice,  52  by  32,  and  two  sto- 
ries high.  It  is  thoroughly  constructed,  well  pro- 
vided with  the  best  modern  school  furniture,  and  sup- 
plied with  all  necessary  educational  appliances:  phi- 
losophical apparatus,  map3,  charts,  globes,  books  of 
reference,  a  new  and  well-selected  miscellaneous  libra- 
ry, with  historical  pictures  and  other  works  of  art  to 
add  to  the  attractiveness  of  the  rooms. 

"The  school  has  had  two  excellent  teachers,  and  65 
pupils.  These  have  made  fine  progress,  their  examin- 
ations eliciting  much  praise  from  gentlemen  who  have 
been  present.  This  institution  is  exceedingly  useful, 
not  only  for  instructing  and  disciplining  the  pupils, 
but  for  its  effect  upon  the  whole  community.  It  has 
elevated  the  aspirations  of  the  colored  youth  of  the 
city,  and  succeeded  in  conquering  a  portion  of  that 
unfounded  prejudice  which  has  hitherto  existed  among 
white  citizens. 

The  school  will  hereafter  accommodate  100  pupils 
and  three  teachers.  As  the  average  scholarship  in 
schools  of  lower  grade  in  the  city  becomes  elevated, 
the  conditions  of  admission  to  this  will  be  advanced. 
The  course  of  study  and  methods  of  instruction  are 
those  common  to  the  best  normal  schools. 

"  Shaw  School,  Charleston,  South  Carolina — This  ex- 
cellent school  was  first  established  in  the  Morris  Street 
public  school  building,  March  14,  1865,  and  is  supported 


f?2  OftZGUV  AJV3)    HIS  TO  It  Y    OF 

oy  the  New  England  branch  of  the  Freedmen's  Union 
Commission.  At  the  beginning  of  the  term,  just  closed 
in  Military  Hall,  375  pupils  were  received,  after  which, 
for  want  of  room,  nearly  all  applications  had  to  be  re- 
fused. 

"The  following  facts,  showing  an  interesting  detail 
of  instruction,  are  furnished  by  its  principal,  iVtr.  Ar- 
thur Sumner: 

"  '  Beginning  with  the  lowest  classes,  48  scholars  are 
in  the  Fourth  Eeader.  They  can  read  the  books  com- 
monly used  in  families  of  children  ;  70  per  cent,  of 
these  scholars  are  in  the  Third  and  Fourth  Readers. 
There  are  10  in  fractions,  and  several  more,  equally  ad- 
vanced, have  lately  left  school;  27  .-an  perform  exam- 
ples in  long  division.  They  are  taught  the  reasons  of 
the  process,  and  the  brightest  can  explain  it.  Fifty- 
four  can  do  short  division;  43  are  in  multiplication  ;  51 
in  subtraction  ;  22  can  only  add  "numbers  of  four  to  six 
figures  each,  So  that  207  in  these  classes  can  be  said 
to  be  in  written  arithmetic,  having  also  made  equal 
progress  in  mental  arithmetic. 

'"In  the  higher  classes  of  the  school,  most  of  the 
scholars  can  add,  subtract,  multiply,  and  divide  long 
combinations  of  units  and  tens,  given  out  orally  and 
rapidly  by  the  teacher.  They  display  as  much  aptness 
in  these  exercises  as  children  do  at  the  North. 

'"The  larger  number  are  writing  in  books,  the  re- 
mainder on  the  slate.  Two  hundred  have  been  taught 
writing  by  dictation.  This  system  has  been  eminently 
successful. 

'"  One  hundred  and  twelve  are  studying  geography. 
They  have  had  the  use  of  a  large  globe  and  Guyot's 
wall  maps. 

"'The  highest  class  has  been  in  English  composition, 
with  constant  practice,  having  written  carefully  pre- 
pared compositions  all  the  term.  Very  few  of  the  pu- 
pils in  this  school  had  any  education  before  the  war. 

"'The  library  of  over  1300  volumes  is  a  great 
feature  of  the  school.  More  than  600  books  have  been 
issued  since  the  library  was  first  opened,  and  not  one 
has  been  lost  by  the  pupils.' 


AMERICAN    SLAVER*.  173 

"  Institute  for  Colored  Youth,  Philadelphia,  Pennsyl- 
vania, Ebenezer  D.  Bassett,  Principal. — This  institute 
was  founded  about  the  year  1837,  upon  a  bequest  made 
by  Richard  Humphreys,  member  of  the  Society  of 
Friends.  Its  design  was  to  qualify  colored  youth  to 
act  as  teachers.  In  addition  to  this,  the  founder  also 
contemplated  some  instruction  in  mechanic  arts  and 
agriculture.  In  order  to  accomplish  this,  an  associa- 
tion of  Friends,  which  had  been  formed,  purchased,  in 
1839,  a  piece  of  land  in  Bristol  Township,  Philadel- 
phia County,  and  educated  a  number  of  boys  in  farm- 
ing, and,  to  some  extent,  in  shoemaking  and  other  use- 
ful occupations.  In  18-42  an  act  of  incorporation  was 
obtained  from  the  legislature. 

"  In  1844  the  funds  of  the  institute  were  increased 
by  a  bequest  of  over  818.000  from  Jonathan  Zane,  an- 
other member  of  the  Society  of  Friends.  Several 
small  legacies  were  also  received  about  this  time. 

"The  experiment  of  the  combined  literary,  agricul- 
tural, and  manual  labor  school  was  abandoned  in  1846, 
and  the  farm  and  stock  sold. 

"  During  the  next  six  years  the  managers  endeav- 
ored to  carry  out  the  objects  of  their  trust  by  appren- 
ticing colored  lads  to  mechanical  occupations,  and  by 
maintaining  an  evening  school.  In  1851  a  lot  of  ground 
on  Lombard  street,  Philadelphia,  was  selected,  and  a 
building  erected.  In  the  autumn  of  1852  it  was  opened 
as  a  high  school,  under  the  care  of  Prof.  Charles  L. 
Reason,  of  New  York,  the  pupils  being  selected  from 
those  of  a  standing  above  that  of  the  ordinary  schools. 

"  The  growth  of  the  school  soon  demanded  increased 
accommodations.  The  first  step  looking  to  this  desir- 
able end  was  taken  in  1863,  when  the  executors  of  the 
estate  of  Josiah  Dawson  made  an  appropriation  of 
^5,000  to  a  building  fund.  Soon  after  two  Friends  of- 
fered to  the  board  the  sum  of  $5,000  each,  provided  an 
amount  necessary  to  complete  a  building  fund  of  $30,000 
could  be  raised  by  the  board.  This  movement  was 
vigorously  followed  up.  and  resulted  favorably. 

"  Since  the  early  part  of  1866  the  school  has  been 
conducted  in   a   large   and  commodious  building,  on 


371  CRIGTJV  siJVD    &ZS20RI    OF 

Shippen  Street,  west  of  Ninth  Street,  Philadelphia. 
The  cost  of  the  building  and  grounds  was  about 
$40,000.     Its  funds  now  amount  to  about  $150,000. 

'The  institute  is  under  the  management  of  an  asso- 
ciation composed  exclusively  of  members  of  the  "So- 
ciety of  Friends  "  The  teachers  are  all  colored  per- 
sons, four  of  each  sex.  Accommodations  are  provided 
for  nearly  300  pupils. 

"A  small  charge  is  made  for  tuition  of  $10  per  an- 
num for  pupils  in  the  high  school,  and  $5  for  those  in 
the  preparatory  department.  Its  effect  has  been  very 
beneficial,  in  relieving  the  pupils  from  a  feeling  of  de- 
pendence, and  causing  an  improvement  in  regularity 
of  attendance  and  diligence  in  study. 

"  The  current  expenses  of  maintaining  the  schools 
for  the  fiscal  year  just  closed  have  been  $7,612  67;  av- 
erage cost  of  each  pupil  for  the  year  $38  14.  Whole 
number  of  alumni  the  present  year,  48,  31  of  whom 
are  now  teaching." 

We  regret  that  no  authentic  account  of  Wilberforce 
University,  Xenia,  Ohio,  is  at  hand.     The  institution, 
we  know,  is  prospering  under  the  able  management  of 
its  president,  Rev.  D.  A.  Payne,  Bishop  of  the  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

The  American  Missionary  Association  report  the  fol- 
lowing normal  classes. 

"At  Charleston,  South  Caralina,  Avery  Institute  has 
a  two-story  brick  building,  erected  by  the  Bureau,  ca- 
pable of  accommodating  600  pupils,  designed  for  nor- 
mal school  purposes  A  normal  class  is  organizing  at 
the  present  time  out  of  the  graded  classes  which  have 

been  taught  in  this  school  for  three  years. 

"At  Macon,  Georgia,  in  the  Lewis  School,  erected  by 
the  Bureau  at  an  expense  of  $12,000,  a  normal  class  of 
25  is  taught.  These  pupils  are  the  most  advanced 
scholars  from  the  schools  of  the  association  in  Ander- 
sonville,  Albany,  Americus,  and  other  points  in  South- 
west Georgia.     They  are  received  into  the  family  with 


AMERICAN    SLATER 2'  *75 

the  teachers  in  the  mission  home,  and  thus  are  under 
constant  refining  influence. 

"At  Atlanta,  Georgia,  the  graded  classes  in  the  Storr 
schools  having  been  under  instruction  for  the  past 
three  years,  furnish  the  material  for  a  promising  nor- 
mal class.  The  association  is  making  arrangements  to 
open  the  boarding  department  for  this  normal  school 
during  the  coming  winter. 

"At  Mobile,  Alabama,  in  the  Blue  Stone  College,  pur- 
chased by  the  aid  of  the  Bureau,  a  large  graded  school 
has  been  taught,  and  a  normal  class  has  been  organ- 
ized. Provision  is  also  about  to  be  made  for  boarding 
pupils  from  abroad,  similar  to  that  at  Macon,  Georgia." 

Thus,  from  our  imperfect  gleanings  may  be  sifted  a 
fair  idea  of  the  gigantic  efforts  that  are  made  for  the 
elevation  of  an  alien  and  once  despised  race. 

Scarcely  a  religious  denomination  exists  in  the  land 
that  has  not,  in  some  manner,  done  something  to  ame- 
liorate the  condition  of  these  poor  people,  or  to  assist 
in  reclaiming  them  from  the  viler  bondage  of  vice  and 
degradation.  The  good  work  still  goes  on  with  una- 
bated interest,  and  already  it  has  become  the  firm  con- 
viction, not  of  the  "  fathers  of  the  church  "  only,  but 
of  the  entire  body  of  religious  people  of  the  North, 
that  there  is  not  in  the  wide  world  another  field  for 
missionary  labor  superior,  or  even  equal,  to  that  found 
among  the  Freedmen  of  the  South. 


?7G  0HIG1JV    AJVD   H1S20H2     Of 


PAET     Y. 


I^BSENT  ||0NDITI0]SL  AND  jfl\OBABLE  $|uTURE 


OF  Tr\B  ^REEMIE^x 


'IJNE  of  the  most  remarkable  features  that  marks 


prominently  the  present  age,  is  the  rapid  and 
complete  development  of  the  Freed  people. 
The  world  never  before  beheld  60  eager  and  healthy 
a  growth.  At  the  opening  of  the  war,  in  1861,  they 
were  only  little  handfuls  of  escaping  fugitives  fleeing 
from  the  strongholds  of  slavery  into  the  uncertain 
refuge  of  the  Union  lines.  Emancipation  swelled 
their  numbers  to  millions,  and  the  close  of  the  war,  in 
1865,  found  them  helpless  and  dependent  as  children 
cowering  under  the  imperfect  protection  of  military 
authority.  Anon,  they  were  shielded  by  law,  eman- 
cipated, enfranchised,  and  now  they  are  sitting  in  con- 
yentions  framing  organic  laws  for  the  government  of 
the  States  in  which  they  so  recently  were  slaves!  They 
were  ignorant,  but  they  sprung  eagerly  into  the  open 
doors  of  the  missionarj'  school  provided  by  the  gener- 
osity of  the  North,  and  speedily  mastered  the  alphabet, 


AMERICAN    SLAYER Y.  177 

the  primer,  the  reader,  and  the  arithmetic.  The  fore- 
most in  the  race  are  pressing  into  the  normal  school, 
and  many  will  soon  enter  college.  Their  religion  was 
wholly  emotional  and  unenlightened,  but  they  com- 
pelled the  alphabet  to  lead  them  as  quickly  as  possible 
into  the  Scriptures,  and  already  they  have  felt  the 
transforming  power  But  they  have  had  many  hard- 
ships to  endure,  many  sacrifices  to  make.  Enemies  at 
home  and  abroad  have  conspired  to  oppress  them,  and 
trials  and  misfortunes  have  marked  the  way;  but  God's 
hand  is  still  guiding  them  onward  and  upward  to  a 
higher  destiny  and  a  more  developed  manhood.  Al- 
ready has  the  Freedman  been  quickened  intellectually. 
Partly  is  he  regenerated  morally,  and  in  great  measure 
has  he  been  reclaimed  from  evil  habits  and  the  bond- 
age of  hereditary  degradation.  His  incipient  educa- 
tion has  lifted  him  to  a  nobler  level,  and  he  sees  dimly 
through  the  scattering  mists  of  ignorance,  and  assays 
to  grasp  the  grand  realities  of  the  higher  life. 

What  has  not  freedom  done  for  him  ?  The  brutish 
mind,  the  servile  demeanor,  and  the  clouded  soul  have 
given  place  to  nobler  impulses,  polite  but  manly  man- 
ners, and  the  Christian's  faith  and  hopes  of  immortal- 
ity. Slavery  is  a  dead  thing  of  the  past,  and  with  it 
has  perished  the  old  forms  of  superstition,  of  ignorant 
credulity,  and  of  apathetic  unbelief.  A  nation  has 
been  born  in  a  day  A  nation  of  earnest,  humble,  anx- 
ious men  and  women,  hungering  and  thirsting  for  the 
divine  word,  for  the  truths  of  the  gospel,  and  for  the 
blessings  of  a  Christian  education. 

Already  they  have  drunk  deeply  of  these  perennial 
springs,  and  the  transformation  is  permanent  and  un- 
mistakable. Yet  still  is  it  progressing.  The  laborers 
of  the  church   in  these  Southern  vineyards  have  not 


/7S  ORIGIJV  siJ\T7)    HISZORY    OF 

fallen  nor  fainted  by  the  way,  but,  animated  with  a 
lofty  purpose,  have  held  down  helping  hands  to  raise 
these  millions  of  eager  aspirants  to  a  level  with  their 
more  favored  brethren.  Lovingly  and  reverently  they 
have  spoken  of  Jesus,  and  the  new  nation,  listening  in 
childlike  wonder  and  veneration,  has  accepted  this  di- 
vine ransom. 

A  nation  of  Christians,  humble,  self  sacrificing,  and 
devoted,  has  sprung  suddenly  from  the  smoldering 
ruins  of  the  Southern  Confederacy,  and  already  in 
their  meek  example;  their  quiet  orderly  lives,  and  pa- 
tient resignation  have  become  a  power  in  the  land. 
They  love  freedom  for  its  own  sake,  for  the  sake  of 
their  wives  and  children  who  are  now  all  their  own, 
aS  well  as  for  the  blessings  of  education  and  knowl- 
edge it  has  conferred  upon  them.  They  love  their  lit- 
tle homelike  cabins  with  their  modest  improvements 
and  simple  attempts  at  elegance,  for  have  they  not 
purchased  them  with  the  fruits  of  their  own  honest 
and  non-recompensed  labor?  They  are  good  citizens, 
loving  the  land  that  gave  them  birth,  and  still  more 
the  government  that  has  given  them  freedom.  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  is  to  them  a  martyred  saint,  a  buried 
Moses,  who  divided  the  turbid  waters  of  slavery  and 
led  them  through  in  safety.  A  grateful,  happy,  con- 
tented people,  they  look  forward  to  a  peaceful,  pros- 
perous future,  and  cherish  no  resentment  against  their 
old  time  oppressors,  but  dwell  quietly  amongst  them, 
asking  and  expecting  no  favors,  but  laboriously  work- 
ing their  way  to  home  comfort  and  independence. 

They  have  disarmed  prejudice,  they  have  made 
friends  even  among  the  ranks  of  their  enemies,  and 
have  borne  their  sufferings,  their  cruel  persecutions, 
and  their  manifold  wrongs  with  a  lofty  patience  and 


AMERTCAJV    SLAYEftT.  179 

submission  that  in  their  very  simplicity  are  sublime. 
Steadily  are  they  rising;  steadfastly  are  they  progress- 
ing. Their  unparalleled  advancement  is  but  the  be- 
ginning of  the  end,  and  time,  in  its  ceaseless  march 
toward  eternity,  will  bear  them  on  its  bosom  triumph- 
antly. Throughout  the  succeeding  years  the  Freed- 
men  will  live  and  labor,  as  in  the  present,  ambitious 
only  for  an  extended  freedom  of  soul  and  mind.  A 
nation  born  from  the  ruin  of  another,  they  will  sup- 
plant it  in  moral  stamina,  in  honest  intentions,  and 
patriotic  principle.  The  Freedmen  are  destined 
shortly  to  become  the  ruling  race  in  the  South.  Labor 
and  education,  linked  hand  in  hand  and  tempered  with 
religion,  soon  will  elevate  them  above  the  aristocratic 
level  of  their  former  masters.  They  have  entered  the 
broad  highway  to  national  respect,  and  self-elevation 
is  the  goal  toward  which  their  unfaltering  footsteps 
are  directed.  Behind  them  are  the  ruins  of  the  sys- 
tem which  has  blighted  the  South  with  the  curse  of 
unrequited  toil,  and  desolated  the  whole  land  with  the 
miseries  of  civil  war.  Before  them  is  the  prospect  of 
rewarded  industry,  universal  liberty,  general  educa- 
tion, freedom  of  speech,  and  an  unfettered  gospel! 

For  the  following  exhibit  of  the  present  condition  of 
the  emancipated  slaves  in  the  several  States  of  the  ex- 
Confederacy,  we  are  indebted  to  the  Eeport  of  Major- 
General  O.  O.  Howard,  Commissioner  of  the  Freed- 
men's  Bureau,  October  14,  1868: 

VIRGINIA. 

"  The  tone  of  public  opinion  exhibits  a  gradual  but 
constant  improvement,  though  the  prevailing  senti- 
ment of  the  white  people  leaves  much  to  be  desired 
with  respect  to  a  cheerful  recognition  of  the  rights  of 


/SO  OHIGIJV   siJVT)    E-7SZ0RY    OF 

the  Freedmen  as  citizens.  The  assistant  commissioner, 
in  his  report  of  operations  for  the  month  of  April,  1868, 
states  that  the  secret  organization  known  as  the  Ku-klux 
Klan  have  made  their  appearance  in  various  localities, 
visiting  the  houses  of  color*  d  men  at  night,  in  some 
cases  placing  rores  around  their  necks  and  threaten- 
ing to  hang  them  on  account  of  their  political  opin- 
ions. No  further  violence  has  been  offered.  The  ob- 
ject of  these  midnight  demonstrations,  which  have  been 
very  rare  in  this  State,  appears  to  be  to  intimidate 
and  control  the  Freedmen  in  the  exercise  of  their  right 
of  suffrage. 

"In  November  and  December,  1867.  the  opposition 
to  negro  suffrage  developed  itself  in  the  general  dis- 
charge of  those  colored  laborers  who  voted  contrary  to 
the  wishes  of  their  employers. 

"The  interest  of  the  Freed  people  in  their  schools 
remains  unabated.  The  schools  themselves  have  been 
highly  prosperous,  and  their  classification  and  disci- 
pline have  been  constantly  improving.  In  November, 
1867,  the  number  cf  schools  in  operation  was  197,  of 
which  154  were  public  free  schools  The  number  of 
teachers  was  250  ot  whom  160  were  white.  Number 
of  pupils,  12,657.  In  April,  1867.  the  number  of  schools 
was  269;  teachers,  310;  pupils,  16,403. 

"  The  Freedmen  have  endeavored  to  the  extent  of 
their  slender  means  to  share  the  expense  of  conducting 
these  schools. 

"  Many  schools  have  been  opened  by  the  Freedmen 
and  the  expenses  borne  by  themselves. 

"  Thus,  in  the  month  of  May,  1868,  of  249  schools 
which  were  in  operation  in  the  Slate,  72  were  wholly 
and  67  partially  sustained  by  Freedmen.  The  remain 
ing  110  were  wholly  sustained  by  various  benevolent 
agencies.  One  sixth  of  the  entire  expense  of  the 
schools  during  the  month  was  borne  by  the  Freed  peo- 
ple." 


viMElilCAJV    SLAVERY.  fS/ 

NORTH  CAROLINA. 

'  The  progress  of  the  educational  work  in  this  State 
is  very  gratifying.  The  greatest  attention  and  inter 
est  have  been  aroused  not  only  among  the  colored  peo- 
ple, but  also  among  the  white.  The  school  year  opened 
in  October  with  158  schools,  158  teachers,  and  7,897 
scholars.  In  April,  1868,  there  were  in  operation  336 
day  and  night  schools,  with  339  teachers  (138  white 
and  201  colored)  and  16,435  pupils  in  attendance.  The 
number  of  Sunday  sehoo's  reported  during  the  same 
period  was  238,  with  1,034  teachers  and  16,187  pupils. 

"The  duties  of  agents  have  been  rendered  more 
difficult  in  consequence  of  the  animosities  developed 
in  the  recent  political  contests  The  great  majority  of 
the  Freedmen,  actuated  by  the  same  views  of  their  in- 
terests, have  been  united  upon  one  side,  and  many 
threats  of  revenge  upon  them  for  so  doing  have  been 
made.  These  threa's,  and  many  petty  persecutions  in 
pursuance  thereof,  have  helped  to  stagnate  and  paral- 
i'ze  labor  interests. 

"  The  assistant  cmomissioner  bears  emphatic  testi- 
mony to  the  exemplary  conduct  of  the  Freed  people 
through  the  entire  canvass  which  resulted  in  the  adop- 
tion of  the  new  State  constitution  and  the  election  of 
State  and  local  officers." 

SOUTH  CAROLINA. 

"  In  some  districts  land  owners  formed  clubs  agree- 
ing to  employ  no  Freedmen  who  would  not  vote  in  ac- 
cordance with  their  wishes.  These  sentiments  were 
controlled,  however,  by  self-interest  and  the  necessity 
of  procuring  labor. 

"As  a  result  of  past  habits  and  training  under  the 
slavery  system,  many  cases  of  disregard  of  the  obliga- 
tions of  the  marriage  contract  and  of  wife  desertion  by 
Freedmen  have  been  reported. 

"  The  superintendent  of  education  for  the  State,  re- 
ports that  during  the  term  of  nine  months  ending  June 
30,  1868,  the   average  number  of  schools  in  operation 


fS2  0XIGIJ\T  siJ\T3>    HIS2  0RT    OF 

was  49;  number  of  teachers.  87  white  and  36  colored; 
number  of  pupils,  6,698.  Though  the  number  of  schol- 
ars enrolled  is  less  than  that  reported  for  the  preced- 
ing school  term,  yet  the  average  attendance  has  been 
better  and  the  grade  of  schools  much  higher.  In  ad- 
dition to  the  above  the  superintendent  estimates  that 
at  least  8,000  pupils  were,  June  1st,  attending  volun- 
tary or  self-supporting  schools,  making  a  total  attend- 
ance upon  colored  schools  in  the  State,  during  the  past 
term,  of  nearly  15,000  pupils.  There  are  besides  a 
large  number  of  Sunday-schools  throughout  the  State, 
which  are  well  attended  and  doingmuch  good.  Many 
are  located  in  places  where  no  secular  schools  have  been 
started,  and  through  their  agency  large  numbers  of 
adults  and  children  have  learned  to  read  who  other- 
wise would  have  remained  in  total  ignorance." 

FLORIDA. 

"  The  condition  of  the  Freed  people  in  this  State, 
during  the  past  year,  has  been  very  favorable.  Their 
conduct  and  demeanor  in  their  new  relations  to  gov- 
ernment and  society,  have  been  almost  uniformly  re- 
ported as  excellent.  Peace  and  good  order  have  pre- 
vailed throughout  the  State.  Acts  of  outrage  or  vio- 
lence perpetrated  upon  Freed  persons  have  been  very 
rare.  More  harmonious  relations  between  the  races 
have  obtained  here  than  in  most  portions  of  the  South. 

"Wherever  the  local  civil  authorities  have  been  in- 
fluenced by  prejudice  against  the  Freedmen  to  the  per- 
version of  justice,  the  military  power  has  been  inter- 
posed to  protect  the  colored  man  in  the  rights  defined 
in  the  civil  rights  bill  and  other  laws. 

"Though  the  influence  of  political  agitation  has  been 
to  introduce  a  source  of  discord  and  difficulty,  yet  no 
active  hostility  on  the  part  of  white  citizens  toward 
the  Freedmen  in  their  new  relations  has  been  reported. 
On  the  contrary,  the  assistant  commissioner,  in  his  re- 
port for  July,  said: 

" '  Mutual  interests  and  abundant  crops  tend  to  har- 


AMERICAN    SZAmftY.  fSS 

monize  the  white  and  colored  men,  and  cause  them  to 
acknowledge  their  mutual  dependence  upon  each  other.' 

''The  assistant  commissioner, reporting  for  July,  1868, 
said: 

11  'The  Freedmen  of  Florida  will  hereafter  be  compar- 
atively independent.  The  majority  of  them  have  now 
a  house  or  hut.  and  from  10  to  40  acres  of  land,  well 
plowed  and  fenced.  The  character  of  labor  has  been 
much  improved  during  the  year.' 

"The  scattered  and  unsettled  condition  of  theinhab- 
itants  of  this  State  has  not  been  favorable  to  inter- 
change of  viewsor  association  for  school  purposes,  while 
the  poverty  of  the  Freed  people  has  prevented  any 
considerable  contributions  by  them.  The  cause  of  ed- 
ucation is  therefore  in  a  backward  condition." 

GEORGIA. 

"In  this  State,  also,  Freedmen  have  been  discharged 
and  driven  from  their  homes  for  voting  contrary  to  the 
wishes  of  their  employers.  White  men  have  also  been 
abused  for  the  manner  in  which  they  have  exercised  the 
right  of  sutfrage.  The  assistant  commissioner  was  di- 
rected to  relieve  distress  or  starvation  occasioned  there- 
by, and  to  appeal  to  the  commanding  general  of  the 
military  division  for  a  remedy  of  this  evil. 

'-Much  has  been  accomplished  in  the  establishment 
and  conduct  of  colored  schools,  and  the  educational  in- 
terests of  the  Slate  are  in  flourishing  condition. 

"  The  highest  number  of  schools,  day  and  night,  re- 
ported during  the  year,  is  132;  teachers,  174;  pupils, 
8,930.  Besides  these  there  are  80  Sabbath-schools,  with 
502  teachers  and  15,141  pupils,  and  three  industrial 
schools,  with  184  pupils. 

"Public  sentiment  regarding  colored  schools  has 
changed  very  little  during  the  year,  except  that  for  the 
last  three  months  there  has  been  more  bitterness  ex- 
hibited toward  all  men  engaged  in  the  work,  and  there 
are  few  who  have  not  received  threats  either  openly  or 
anonymously.     It  is  not  known  that  any  have  received 


/Si  ORTGTJV  siJTT)    HISTORY    OF 

personal  injury,  except  the  colored  teacher  at  Hawk- 
insville,  wlio  was  shot  and  seriously  wounded,  yet  he 
adds  that  there  are  100,000  children  in  the  State  who 
have  never  learned  the  alphabet  or  been  inside  of  a 
school-house,  and  says  that  there  are  91  points  in  the 
State  where,  in  all,  145  new  schools  might  be  organized, 
each  in  the  midst  of  a  dense  colored  population." 

ALABAMA. 

"  The  condition  of  affairs  in  this  State  throughout 
the  year  has,  in  general,  been  quiet  and  satisfactory. 

"The  stationing  of  troops  in  the  more  turbulent  dis- 
tricts of  the  State  by  the  commanding  officer  of  the  sub- 
district  of  Alabama,  and  the  late  action  of  military 
courts  in  punishing  offenders  for  outrage  upon  loyal 
persons  white  or  black,  have  greatly  tended  to  restore 
the  confidence  of  the  Freed  people  in  the  government, 
and  also  prevent  the  repetition  of  these  crimes. 

"  The  great  necessity  of  the  thorough  education  of 
their  children  and  the  many  benefits  which  would  re- 
sult therefrom  are  fully  appreciated  by  the  colored 
people;  but  their  poverty  has  crippled  their  efforts  in 
this  cause.  The  unsettled  condition  of  affairs  and  the 
opposition  manifested  in  some  sections  have  confined 
the  operations  of  Freedme.n's  schools  m  ost  e  ntirely 
to  towns  in  which  agents  are  stationed. 

"  The  superintendent  of  education,  in  August,  esti- 
mated the  number  of  schools  organized  and  in  opera- 
tion in  the  State  of  Alabama  at  72,  with  an  average 
attendance  of  3,562  pupils.  Besides  these,  some  schools 
have  been  maintained  by  private  effort.  These  schools 
compare  favorably  with  the  average  of  schools  in  the 
North.  No  more  competent  or  devoted  teachers  can 
be  lound  anywhere,  than  those  engaged  in  this  work." 

MISSISSIPPI. 

"The  condition  of  the  Freed  people  throughout  the 
State  is  not  only  improving  but  is  satisfactory.  The 
Freed  men  have  worked  well. 


AMERICAN   S  LAYER  T*  f85 

"At  all  times  the  demand  for  labor  has  been  greater 
than  could  be  supplied,  and  consequently  but  a  small 
degree  of  destitution  has  prevailed. 

"The  superintendent  of  education  made  a  special 
effort  to  secure  the  continuance  of  those  schools  lo- 
cated in  the  healthy  districts  of  the  State,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  keeping  open  75  day  schools,  with  an  aver- 
age number  of  3  500  pupils  and  76  teachers  (38  being 
colored). 

"The  number  of  teachers  employed  in  the  regular 
season  is  102,  and  the  number  of  pupils  who  have  re- 
ceived instruction  in  the  regular  schools  is  about 
14,000. 

"  The  extreme  poverty  of  the  Freedmen  has  made  it 
necessary  for  the  Bureau  to  sustain  a  considerable  pro- 
portion of  the  expenses  of  conducting  the  schools. 
But  it  is  expected  that  when  the  crops  are  harvested 
the  Freedmen  generally  will  be  able  to  contribute 
much  more  for  this  object." 

LOUISIANA. 

"The  condition  of  the  colored  race  in  this  State  is 
not  promising.  The  poor  results  of  the  year's  labor 
have  had  a  depressing  effect  upon  many  planters  and 
Freed  people.  The  latter  have  done  all  that  was  in 
their  power. 

"  The  educational  work  has  been  vigorously  prose- 
cuted. The  measure  of  success  attained  is  quite  grati- 
fying considering  the  obstacles  that  have  been  encoun- 
tered— the  poverty  of  the  Freedmen,  the  small  amount 
of  aid  received  from  benevolent  associations  at  the 
JSorth,  and,  in  the  more  remote  sections,  the  prejudice 
and  opposition  of  white  citizens.  In  May  the  total 
number  of  schools  in  operation  was  217,  with  244 
teachers,  and  10,971  pupils. 

"  While  the  Freedmen,  as  a  class,  exhibit  a  very  gen- 
eral interest  in  religious  matters,  many  of  their  habits 
still  show  the  debasing  influence  of  the  slave  system. 
Prominent  among  these  is  the  want  of  a  due  apprecia- 
tion of  the  obligations  of  the  marriage  contract.  In 
17 


fSG  ORIGIN  AJVD    HTSIO'RY    OF 

this  respect,  however,  their  conduct  is  undergoing 
much  improvement,  and  cases  of  desertion  of  wife  and 
family  are  becoming  rare. 

"  The  condition  of  society  in  the  more  remote  and 
sparsely  settled  parishes  is  greatly  disorganized.  In 
some  sections  the  treatment  of  the  colored  people  has 
been  deplorable.  Outrage  and  crimes  of  every  de- 
scription have  been  perpetrated  upon  them  with  im- 
punity. 

"  '  Vigilance  Committees'  and  '  Ku-klux  Klans,'  dis- 
guised by  night,  have  burned  the  dwellings  and  shed 
the  blood  of  unoffending  Freedmen." 


TEXAS. 

"The  unsettled  condition  of  this  district  has  ren- 
dered necessary  the  distribution  of  a  large  military 
force  over  the  State. 

"Armed  bands,  styling  themselves  Ku-klux,  etc., 
have  practiced  barbarous  cruelties  upon  the  Freedmen. 
Murdersby  the  desperadoes  who  have  long  disgraced 
this  State  are  of  common  occurrence.  From  informa- 
tion on  file  in  the  office  of  the  assistant  commissioner 
it  appears  that  in  the  month  of  March  the  number  of 
Freedmen  murdered  w  as  21 ;  the  number  of  Freedmen 
assaulted  with  the  intent  to  kill,  11.  In  July  the  num- 
ber of  Freedmen  murdered  was  32. 

"  In  consequence  of  this  condition  of  affairs  a  kind 
of  a  quiet  prevails  among  the  Freed  people  lacking 
but  little  in  all  the  essentials  of  slavery.  In  the  more 
remote  districts,  where  Bureau  agents  are  50  or  100 
miles  apart,  and  stations  of  troops  still  further  distant, 
Freedmen  do  not  dare  or  presume  to  act  in  opposition 
to  the  will  of  their  lat<;  masters.  They  make  no  effort 
to  exercise  rights  conferred  upon  them  by  the  acts  of 
Congress,  and  few  even  of  Union  men  are  brave 
enough,  or  rather  foolhardy  enough,  to  advise  them  in 
anything  antagonistic  to  the  sentiments  of  the  people 
lately  in  rebellion. 

"  Owing  to  these  causes  and  the  lack  of  schools  the 
Freedmen    of  Texas   do  not  compare   favorably  with 


AMERICAN  SLAVE  ft  7.  /S? 

those  of  the  States  east  of  the  Mississippi  Eiver. 
They  have  not  made  the  same  progress,  and  are  less 
thrifty  and  provident.  Nevertheless  they  have  worked 
faithfully  and  industriously,  as  the  condition  of  the 
crops  testifies. 

"  The  progress  of  the  educational  work  in  Texas  has 
been  much  impeded  by  the  poverty  of  the  Freedmen, 
and  in  the  more' remote  sections  by  the  determined  op- 
position of  white  citizens.  The  Freedmen's  schools 
do  not  compare  favorably  with  those  of  many  other 
Southern  States." 

ARKANSAS. 

"Great  attention  has  been  given  to  the  important 
work  of  fostering  the  educational  interests  of  the  Freed 
people.  It  has  been  the  aim  of  the  assistant  commis- 
sioner to  dot  the  State  all  over  with  school-houses  as 
thickly  as  possible.  Schools  previously  confined  to 
the  principal  towns,  have  been  pushed  into  the  interior 
and  more  remote  sections. 

'•  The  Freedmen  have  shown  great  interest  in  the 
work,  and  nothing  but  their  poverty  has  prevented 
them  trom  assuming  a  large  proportion  o  the  expense 
incurred.  Considering  the  disadvantageous  circum- 
stances under  which  the  school  work  has  been  prose- 
cuted, the  progress  secured  is  encouraging. 

"  The  administration  of  justice  by  the  civil  authori- 
ties has  teen  far  from  effective.  Lawless  violence  and 
ruffianism  have  prevailed  to  an  alarming  extent. 

"Three  churches  belonging  to  Freedmen.  in  Oua- 
chita county  were  burned  by  parties  unknown  on  the 
night  of  April  4,  1868.  The  assistant  commissioner 
attributes  this  wanton  act  to  the  bitter  feelings  aroused 
by  the  part  the  Freedmen  had  taken  in  the  then  recent 
election,  and  states  that  similar  deeds  are  not  uncom- 
mon 'The  Ku  klux  Klan  serve  their  mysterious  notices 
and  make  their  midnight  rounds  in  different  parts  of 
the  State  Every  precaution  has  been  taken  with  the 
forces  at  hand  Troops  were  stationed  at  24  different 
points  in  the  State;  but  even  this  distribution  has 
failed  to  check  the   evil.     The  civil  law  in  this  State, 


fSS  OftlGIJV  rtWD    IUS2  0Rr    OF 

so  far  as  the  punishment  of  Grime  is  concerned,  exists 
only  in  name.' 

''On  the  night  of  May  16  a  Freedmen's  church  and 
school  house  (not  erected  by  government  aid)  in  Mis- 
sissippi county  was  burned  by  incendiaries.  Several 
other  gross  irregularities  occurred  in  different  sections 
of  the  State  during  this  month.  Each  case  was  as 
fully  investigated  as  practicable,  but  with  no  t-atistac- 
tory  ^esult,  so  far  as  the  arrest  or  punishment  of  the 
criminals  is  concerned." 

KENTUCKY. 

"  During  the  year  31  school-houses  have  been  erected 
by  t tie  Bureau  in  Kentucky  The  superintendent  of 
education  estimates  that  20,000  children  have  received 
the  rudiments  of  an  education  in  the  schools  supported 
by  the  Bureau. 

"  More  than  1.100  colored  soldiers  in  Kentucky  have 
received  their  bounty  through  the  Bureau  during  the 
year.  Having  served  in  the  Union  army,  they  have 
been  the  especial  objects  of  persecution,  and  in  hun- 
dreds of  instances  have  been  driven  from  their  homes. 
The  outrages  perpetrated  by  the  Ku  klux  Klan  have 
caused  a  great  exodus  into  other  States. 

u  Notwithstanding  these  disadvantages  a  majority  of 
the  Freed  men  have  labored  faithfully.  Many  have  be- 
come property-holders  and  wherever  they  have  been 
fairly  treated  they  have  shown  marked  improvement 
in  every  respect. 

''The  number  of  outrages  reported  as  committed  by 
whites  upon  colored  people  in  the  State  of  Kentucky 
during  the  year  is:  murders.  26;  rapes.  3;  shootings, 
30 j   otherwise  maltreated,  265;   total,  321." 

TENNESSEE. 

'At  the  close  of  the  year  1867  the  organization  of 
the  secret  society  known  as  the  Ku-klux  Klan  took 
place. 

uThe  number  of  outrages  perpetrated  by  this  band, 


AMERICAN    SLAVERY.  f$9 

or  by  desperadoes  apparently  belonging  to  it,  has  been 
very  great.  The  intimidation  of  the  colored  people 
seemed  to  be  its  object,  to  effect  which  colored  men  are 
frequently  taken  from  their  beds  at  night  and  flogged 
unmercifully,  and  occasionally  killed.  These  outrages, 
and  occasional  efforts  of  the  colored  men  to  resist  them, 
have  given  to  several  counties  the  character  of  lawless 
and  disorderly  communities;  but  for  several  months 
past  such  outrages  have  ceased,  and  the  opposition  to 
colored  schools  is  decreasing. 

"  The  most  important  work  of  the  Bureau  during 
the  past  year  has  been  the  erection  and  repair  of  the 
school  buildings  and  the  employment  of  teachers.  But 
little  pecuniary  aid  has  been  received  from  the  colored 
people.  In  the  month  of  June,  1868,  there  were  in  op- 
eration 120  schools,  with  1G1  teachers  (49  colored  and 
112  white),  and  8,246  pupils. 

"A  very  important  branch  of  the  labor  of  the  Bureau 
has  been  the  collecting  and  disbursing  of  bounty  claims 
to  colored  soldiers  or  their  widows  and  heirs.  The 
amount  disbursed  by  the  agent  at  Nashville  alone  dur- 
ing the  year  is  $83,402  03.'" 


DISTRICT    OF    COLUMBIA,  WEST  VIRGINIA,  MARYLAND,   AND 

DELAWARE. 

"  More  attention  than  usual  has  been  devoted  to  ed- 
ucational matters  in  the  district  during  the  past  year. 

"This  Bureau  has  aided  in  the  construction  of  111 
school  houses.  The  plan  adopted  has  been  to  furnish 
lumber,  and  sometimes  other  material,  and  the  Freed- 
men  would  procure  a  site  and  agree  to  pay  for  the  con- 
struction. 

"From  the  consolidated  monthly  reports  are  derived 
the  following:  Total  number  of  schools  (Sabbath- 
schools  not  included),  257;  total  number  of  teachers, 
326;  total  number  of  pupils,  12  494. 

'•Public  sentiment  toward  colored  schools  has  im- 
proved during  the  year.  And  yet  the  only  allowance 
made  by  law  for  the  support  of  public  schools  for  col- 
ored children  in  Maryland  is  that  part  of  the  school 


/90  OR/GUV  rtWD    HISTOH^     OF 

fund  derived  from  the  taxes  paid  by  colored  people. 
In  some  parts  of  Maryland  bitter  hatred  has  been 
shown  to  colored  schools.  One  case  is  reported  ot  as- 
sault of  a  colored  teacher  in  Cecil  County,  and  another 
ot  a  colored  female  teacher  at  Havre  de  Grace.  In  a 
locality  of  Anne  Arundel  County,  known  as  'the  For- 
est,' the  prejudice  is  so  great  ihat  the  Freedmen  have 
not  been  able  to  obtain  a  site  tor  a  school  house. 

"  In  Delaware  one  school  building  has  been  burnt, 
but  the  judicious  and  energetic  management  of  the 
Delaware  Association  seems  likely  to  triumph  over  all 
opposition. 

"In  West  Virginia,  though  the  law  allows  an  equal 
share  of  the  public  fund  tor  the  colored  schools,  yet 
the  public  sentiment  in  two  or  three  counties  was  so 
strongly  opposed  that  the  school  authorities  took  cour- 
age to  resist  the  law. 

"Negro  testimony  is  nowgenerally  admitted  through- 
out this  district,  but  the  difficulty  remains  that  the  ju- 
ries and  local  magistrates  allow  it  no  weight  when  op- 
posed t>3T  white  witnesses. 

"Under  the  heading  Asylums,'  the  assistant  com- 
missioner reports  the  details  of  the  breaking  up  of 
Freedmen's  Village,  Arlington.  Average  number  of 
inmates  during  three  months,  682.  The  superintendent 
in  his  final  report  gives  an  interesting  history  of  many 
of  the  cases  classified  under  'old  age,'  'disabled,' 
'blind,'  and  '  insane  or  imbecile.' 

"This  class,  including  also  orphans  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  from  various  causes,  has  accumulated  dur- 
ing the  war  and  since,  and  as  they  are  not  considered 
properly  residents  the  local  authorities  have  declined 
to  make  provision  for  their  support.  It  would  he  im- 
practicable to  send  them  to  be  provided  for  by  the 
counties  of  the  various  States  where  they  were  born 
in  slavery,  even  were  there  any  ground  tor  believing 
the  county  < authorities  would  consent  to  receive  and 
care  for  them.  They  must  therefore  remain  a  public 
charge,  and  would  seem  to  have  peculiar  claims  upon 
the  United  States  government. 

The  records  of  the  employment  offices  of  this  dis- 


£.  T1 


si.lfElilCrtJSr    SI^iVE'RV.  107 

trict   give:  Number  provided   with  employment  from 
July  1,  1867,  to  August  31,  1808,  1.077. 

"  The  Barry  Farm  enterprise  mentioned  in  my  last 
annual  report,  has  continued  to  justify  the  expecta- 
tions of  the  trustees.  The  land  has  been  taken  with 
avidity,  and  the  payments,  with  some  few  exceptions, 
promptly  and  regularly  made. 

"  The  Froedmcn  who  have  made  the  purchases  seem 
greatly  encouraged  Mt  the  prospect  of  owning  a  home 
stead.  They  have  made  up  a  fund  among  themselves 
for  school  purposes,  and  bought  one  of  the  lots  upon 
which  the  erection  of  a  school-house  large  enough  to 
accommodate  150  pupils  has  been  completed  during 
the  year,  by  aid  of  this  Bureau. 

"  Any  one  who  sees  the  prosperity  of  this  commun- 
ity, and  witnesses  the  new  hopefulness  with  which 
most  of  its  mt-mbers  seem  to  be  inspired,  can  not  fail 
to  regard  the  experiment  as  one  of  the  most  judicious 
and  beneficent  yet  undertaken  in  behalf  of  the  Freed- 
men. 

li  Twenty  industrial  schools  are  reported  in  this  dis- 
trict, with  823  scholars." 


Thus,  as  has  been  seen,  the  pathway  of  the  Freed- 
men,  in  their  tortuous  exit,  from  the  prison-house  ot 
slavery,  has  not  bet  n  wholly  lined  with  roses.  Much 
has  been  done  for  them;  they  have  done  much  for 
themselves — but  the  perils  of  the  wilderness  have  bet'n 
before  and  around  them.  Couragously  they  have  sur- 
mounted many  difficulties.  Bravely  and  hopefully 
they  have  striven  to  overcome  the  obstacles  in  their 
way.  Cheerfully  and  prayerfully  they  look  forward 
to  similar  trials  and  greater  victories.  They  are  mod- 
erate in  their  desires  and  expectations.  They  ask  not 
social  equality,  and  have  no  thought  of  thrusting  them- 
selves into  social  notice  and  recognition.  They  de- 
mand equality  alone  before  the  law,  and  ask  to  be  pro- 


192  OZIIGIJY  j1J\*2)    HIS  TORI     OF 

tected  only  in  their  political  rights,  their  personal 
property,  and  their  family  relations.  Yet  in  great 
measure  they  hold  in  their  hands  the  destiny  and  will 
mold  the  future  of  America.  Our  modern  politicians 
might  learn  a  lesson  from  the  humble  ex-slaves. 
A  teacher  writes  from  Carsville: 

"The  Freedmen  are  holding  numerous  political 
meetings.  They  always  open  them  with  prayer,  and 
the  whole  assembly  get  upon  their  knees,  and  bow 
humbly  before  God,  and  thank  him  for  the  great  priv- 
ilege they  have." 

Public  opinion  in  the  South  must  change.  Already 
are  there  indications  that  the  change  is  half  begun. 
Henry  A  Wise,  Ex-Governor  of  Virginia,  in  a  lecture 
at  Norfolk  for  the  benefit  of  the  Southern  Churches, 
made  this  extraordinary  declaration: 

"He  is,  I  fear,  an  infidel  who  doesn't  see  that  the 
fire  and  sword  of  this  war  were  sent  from  heaven. 
God  knew  that  we  could  be  torn  away  from  our  black 
idol  of  slavery  only  by  fire  and  blood  and  the  drawn 
sword  of  the  destining  angel  of  war.  He  sent  them, 
and  we  ought  to  praise  the  Most  High  that  he  did  not 
send  worse  plagues,  like  those  of  Egypt,  against  what- 
ever weakness  or  wickedness  we  clung  to  like  Pha- 
raoh." 

Many  of  the  more  intelligent  and  prominent  South- 
ern citizens  sympathize  strongly  with  the  praiseworthy 
efforts  of  the  Freedmen  to  elevate  themselves,  and  lend 
them  all  the  encouragement  in  their  power,  although 
the  mass  of  the  people  are  bitterly  opposed  to  their  ed- 
ucation, and  resort  to  every  expedient  both  to  discour- 
age the  colored  people  and  to  throw  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  their  instructors.  But  prejudice  such  as  this 
will  be  mellowed  and  softened  by  time,  and  especially 
by  the  dissemination  of  a  more  liberal  education  among 


AMERICA JV   SLAYJERT*  /£«? 

the  so-called  "  poor  white  trash  "  of  the  South,  a  class 
largely  in  the  ascendancy,  and  from  whom  emanate 
the  most  intense  and  malignant  opposition  and  perse- 
cution, although  no  class  in  the  nicely  graduated  social 
scale  is  wholly  exempt  from  the  chivalrous  weakness 
of  hatred  to  "  Yankee  schools  "  and  "  Yankee  teach- 
ers." In  time,  by  their  correct  deportment,  the  Freed- 
men  will  compel  the  respect  and  win  the  co-operation 
of  their  white  fellow-citizens,  and  with  it  the  privilege 
of  dwelling  unmolested  by  their  side. 

A  marked  change  is  already  visible  in  the  children 
of  theso  poor  black  people,  and,  compared  with  their 
elders  who  have  never  enjoyed  the  privileges  of 
of  school,  one  can  scarcely  realize  that  they  are  of 
contemporaneous  generations.  Who  doubts  that  tho 
little  black  boy  who  wrote  this  letter,  at  the  request  of 
his  teacher,  to  the  children  of  a  white  Sabbath-school 
at  the  North,  will,  if  he  lives,  have  good  sense,  and 
render  efficient  service  to  his  race? 

"  Trinity  School,  Athens,  Alabama,  ) 

•'Feb.  15,  1868.      j 

"Dear  Children — My  teacher  asked  me  to  write  a  let- 
ter to  you.  I  am  a  little  black  boy.  I  don't  suppose 
I'll  ever  be  white.  I'm  free,  though.  My  mother  is 
dead,  my  father  went  off  with  the  Yankees.  I  lived 
in  the  camps  one  year  with  the  Yankee  soldiers.  I 
used  to  dance  around  the  camp  for  sugar  and  bread; 

"  •  Dej  gives  me  hard-tack, 
Tougher  as  a  rack 

It  almost  break  my  jaw.' 

"When  I  left  the  camp,  I  went  to  live  with  Aunt  Mary 
She  beat  me,  and  knocked  me  about,  and  almost  put 
out  my  eye.  One  time  they  beat  me  very  bad,  and 
tied  me  to  the  fence  to  keep  the  chickens  off  the  gar- 
den.   I  untied  the  string  and  runned  away,  and  now  I 

18 


194  OHIGIJY   AJVi)    HIS2  011Y    OF 

has  a  nice  home  with  Miss  \Y.  She  teaches  me  to  b©> 
good;  and  I  am  trying  to  he  the  best  boy  in  the  world. 

"I  have  learned  to  pray  and  read  the  Bible.  I  recite? 
my  Sunday  school  lesson  with  the  big  class.  I  am  go- 
ing to  be  a  minister,  and  preach  the  gospel;  and  I  am 
going  to  do  my  work  well.  I  am  going  to  have  good 
sense.     I  am  going  to  be  energetic,  too ! 

"  I  had  some  Christmas  presents,  and  I've  got  them* 
yet.  I  pick  up  chips,  and  learn  my  lessons,  and  read 
the  paper.  I  have  read  through  the  First  Header  and 
the  Second  Header,  and  now  I  am  in  the  Third  Reader, 
and  I  study  Geography.  I  have  very  nice  clothes,  with 
pockets  in  them;  I  eat  with  a  fork.  I  used  to  sit  on 
the  floor  and  eat  with  my  fingers,  and  get  grease  and 
molasses  all  over  myself.  I  didn't  have  any  apron 
then,  nor  any  manners,  nor  anything  to  eat  hardly. 
Now  I  have  everything  nice,  and  I  try  very  hard  to  be 
a  nice  boy.  I  am  a  temperance  boy.  I  don't  drink 
any  rum,  and  I  never  will.  I  make  temperance  speeches, 
too;  and  Miss  R.  is  teaching  me  a  song  about, 

"•'  These  temperance  folks  do  crowd  us  so  awfally/ 

I  shall  sing  it  at  the  exhibition  next  summer.  I  played 
on  the  melodeon  three  times,  and 

u  '  I  want  to  be  an  angel, 

And  have  a  harp  within  my  ftanC 

"  Do  you  sing 

"  'Beautiful  land  of  rest?' 

I  sing  it  every  day. 

"  I  am  quick  to  duty,  up  and  at  it.  I  walk  very  still. 
I  do  what  is  told  me,  and  do  it  cheerfully.  I  learn 
Latin,  too,  when  Miss  W.'s  class  recites  their  lesson; 
Hie,  ilia,  Mud.  Sum,  esse,fui.  Rego,  regere,  rexi,  rec- 
tum! '  The  verb  must  agree  with  its  subject  in  num- 
ber and  person.'  I  shall  study  Latin,  I  think,  before 
I  preach,  and  history  too.  History  tells  about  George 
Washington  who  never  told  a  lie;  and  Abraham  Lin- 
coln, who  made  us  free;  but  Miss  W.  says  'twas  God 
though. 

"I  go  to  bed  early,  and  I  always  pray  before  I  go  to 


^.MEHICAJV    SLAYEltr.  /#o» 

bed.  I  love  to  pray.  When  I  didn't  live  here,  I  didn't 
•have  any  prayers,  then  I  had  whippings.  But  I  like 
praying  a  good  deal  the  best,  don't  you?  I  hope  you 
pray  every  day,  and  every  night  before  you  go  to  bed, 
■and  think  all  about  what  you  have  done.  Jesus  hears 
me  when  I  pray,  and  He  loves  me,  too.  Do  you  love 
Jesus?  He  is  good  and  blessed,  and  he  wants  you  to 
love  him. 

'•  Perhaps  I  shall  get  on  the  cars  some  time  and  come 
to  see  you.  Would  you  speak  to  a  black  boy?  I  shall 
fee  8  years  old  next  May.     I  will  now  close  my  letter. 

"  George  Wells." 

This  child  is  not  a  prodigy.  He  is  but  one  of  the 
thousands  of  sprightly  ehildreu  now  under  the  guar- 
dianship of  the  Northern  teacher,  and  whom  time  will 
develop  into  earnest  mei  and  women.  The  nation  has 
much  to  hope  from  them.  When  their  fathers  have 
passed  from  the  stage  of  action,  there  will  stand  ready 
to  succeed  them  a  healthful,  sanguine  generation,  bear- 
ing in  their  brains  and  cherishing  in  their  souls  the 
perfected  fruit  of  mental  energy  and  moral  culture, 
the  certain  harvest  already  ripening  from  the  good 
£eeds  of  gentle  words  and  pure  example  sown  by  the 
tireless  hands  of  the  fair  girl  missionaries  of  the 
North,  who  for  such  a  result  have  courageously  ex- 
pended youth  and  health. 

Nor  is  any  class  indifferent  to  their  newly-acquired 
rights  and  responsibilities.  We  can  not  better  illus- 
trate the  intense  feeling  prevalent  among  them  than 
by  adducing  these  extracts  from  the  speech  of  Hon.  H. 
M.  Turner  (colored),  on  the  eligibility  of  colored  mem- 
bers to  seats  in  the  G-eorgia  Legislature,  delivered  be- 
fore that  body,  September  3,  1868: 

"  I  stand  here  to-day,  sir,  pleading  for  ninety  thou- 
sand black  men — voters— of  Georgia;  and  I  shall  stand 


?9G  o'Rigijv  3urz>  jzisroftr  of 

and  plead  the  cause  of  my  race  until  God,  in  His  prov- 
idence, shall  see  proper  to  take  me  hence.  I  trust  that 
He  will  give  me  strength  to  stand,  and  power  to  ac- 
complish the  simple  justice  that  I  seek  for  them. 

"  The  great  question,  sir,  is  this-:  Am  I  a  man?  If  I 
am  such,  I  claim  the  rights  of  a  man .  Am  I  not  a  man, 
because  I  happen  to  be  of  a  darker  hue  than  honorable 
gentlemen  around  me?  Let  me  see  whether  I  am  or 
not.  I  want  to  convince  the  House,  to  day,  that  I  am 
entitled  to  my  seat  here.  A  certain  gentleman  has  ar- 
gued that  the  negro  was  a  mere  development  similar 
to  the  ourang-outang  or  chimpanzee,  but  it  so  happens 
that,  when  a  negro  is  examined,  physiologically,  phre- 
nologically  and  anatomically,  and,  I  may  say,physiog- 
nomically,  he  is  found  to  be  the  same  as  persons  of  dif- 
ferent color.  I  would  like  to  ask  any  gentleman  on 
this  floor,  where  is  the  analogy?  Do  you  find  me  a 
quadruped,  or  do  you  find  me  a  man?  Do  you  fiud 
three  bones  less  in  my  back  than  in  that  of  the  white 
man?  Do  you  find  less  organs  in  the  brain?  If  you 
know  nothing  of  this,  I  do;  for  I  have  helped  to  dis- 
sect fifty  men,  black  and  white,  and  I  assert  that  by  the 
time  you  take  off  the  mucous  pigment — color  of  the 
skin — you  can  not,  to  save  your  liie,  distinguish  be- 
tween the  black  man  and  the  white.  Am  I  a  man? 
Have  I  a  soul  to  save,  ae  you  have?  Am  I  susceptible 
of  eternal  development,  as  you  are?  Can  I  learn  all 
the  arts  and  sciences  that  you  can — has  it  ever  been 
demonstrated  in  the  history  of  the  world?  Have  black 
men  ever  exhibited  bravery,  as  white  men  have  done? 
Have  they  ever  been  in  professions!  Have  they  not  as 
good  articulative  organs  as  you?  Some  people  argue 
that  there  is  a  very  close  similarity  between  the  larynx 
of  the  negro  and  that  of  the  ourang  outang.  Why0  sir, 
there  is  not  so  much  similarity  between  them  as  there 
is  between  the  larynx  of  the  man  and  that  of  the  dog, 
and  this  fact  I  dare  any  member  of  this  House  to  dis- 
pute. God  saw  fit  to  vary  everything  in  Nature.  There 
are  no  two  men  alike  —  no  two  voices  alike  —  no  two 
trees  alike.  God  has  woven  and  tissued  variety  and 
versatility  throughout  the  boundless  space  of  His  ere- 


AMERICAN   SLA  YEli Y.  /Q? 

ation.  Because  God  saw  fit  to  make  some  red,  and 
some  vvhite,  and  some  black,  and  some  brown,  are  we 
to  sit  here  in  judgment  upon  what  God  has  seen  fit  to 
do?  As  well  might  one  play  with  the  thunderbolts  of 
heaven  as  with  that  creature  that  bears  God's  image — 
God's  photograph. 

"  The  question  is  asked:  '  What  is  it  that  the  negro 
race  has  done?'  "Well,  Mr.  Speaker,  all  I  have  to  say 
upon  the  subject  is  this:  that  if  we  are  the  class  of  peo- 
ple that  we  are  generally  represented  to  be,  I  hold  that 
we  are  a  very  great  people.  It  is  generally  considered 
that  we  are  the  children  of  Canaan,  and  that  the  curse 
of  a  father  rests  upon  our  heads,  and  has  rested, 
through  all  history.  Sir,  I  deny  that  the.  curse  of 
Noah  has  anything  to  do  with  the  negro.  We  are  not 
the  children  of  Canaan;  and  if  we  were,  sir,  where 
should  we  stand?  Let  us  look  a  little  into  history. 
Melchisedek  was  a  Canaanite;  all  the  Phoenicians — all 
those  inventors  of  the  arts  and  sciences — were  the 
posterity  of  Canaan;  but,  sir,  the  negro  is  not.  We 
are  the  children  of  Cush,  and  Canaan's  curse  has  noth- 
ing whatever  to  do  with  the  negro. 

"  Why  did  your  forefathers  come  to  this  country? 
Did  they  not  flee  from  oppression?  They  came  to  free 
themselves  from  the  chains  of  tyranny,  and  to  escape 
from  under  the  heel  of  the  autocrat.  Why,  sir,  in 
England,  for  centuries  together,  men — and  white  men 
at  that — wore  metal  collars  around  their  necks,  bear- 
ing, in  graven  characters,  the  names  by  which  they 
were  known.  Your  great  and  noble  race  were  sold  in 
the  slave-marts  of  Home.  The  Irish,  also,  held  many 
white  slaves,  until  1172;  and  even  Queen  Elizabeth,  in 
her  day,  had  to  send  a  deputation  to  inquire  into  the 
condition  of  such  white  slaves  as  had  been  born  in 
England.  King  Alfred  the  Great,  in  his  time,  provided 
that  for  seven  years'  work  the  slave  should  be  set  free. 
And,  going  back  to  more  ancient  and  more  valuable 
authority,  did  not  God  himself,  when  he  brought  the 
children  of  Israel  out  of  Egypt,  say  unto  them:  'Re- 
member that  you  were  slaves  in  Egypt?'  I  say  to 
you,  white  men,  to-day,  that  the  great  deliverance  of 


/.9<?  OKIGIJV  AJTD    HIS2  01RY    OF 

the  recent  past  is  not  altogether  dissimilar  to  the  great 
deliverance  of  ancient  times.  Your  Democratic  party 
may  be  aptly  said  to  represent  Pharaoh ;  the  North  to 
represent  one  of  the  walls,  and  the  South  the  other. 
Between  these  two  great  walls  the  black  man  passes 
out  to  freedom,  while  your  Democratic  party  —  the 
Pharaoh  of  to  day  —  follows  us,  with  hasty  strides 
and  lowering  visage. 

"These  gentlemen  do  not  consider  for  a  moment  the 
dreadful  hardships  which  these  people  have  endured, 
and  especially  those  who  in  any  way  endeavored  to 
acquire  an  education.  For  myself,  sir,  I  was  raised  in 
the  cotton  field  of  South  Carolina,  and,  in  order  to 
prepare  myself  for  usefulness,  as  well  to  mj'self  as  to 
my  race,  I  determined  to  devote  my  spare  hours  to 
study.  When  the  overseer  retired  at  night  to  his 
comfortable  couch,  I  sat  and  read,  and  thought,  and 
studied,  until  I  heard  him  blow  his  horn  in  the  morn- 
ing. He  frequently  told  me,  with  an  oath,  that  if  he 
discovered  me  attempting  to  learn,  he  would  whip  me 
to  death,  and  I  have  no  doubt  he  would  have  done  so, 
if  he  had  found  an  opportunity.  I  prayed  to  Almighty 
God  to  assist  me,  and  He  did,  and  I  thank  Him  with 
my  whole  heart  and  soul. 

"Personally,  I  have  the  highest  regard  for  the  gen- 
tleman, but  I  need  scarcely  say  that  I  heartily  despise 
the  political  sentiments  which  he  holds.  I  would 
pledge  myself  to  do  this,  however:  to  take  the  Holy 
Bible  and  read  it  in  as  many  different  languages  as  he 
will.  If  he  reads  it  in  English,  /will  do  it;  if  Rereads 
it  in  Latin,  I  will  do  the  same;  if  in  Greek,  2 will  read 
it  in  that  language,  too;  and  if  in  Hebrew,  /will  meet 
him,  also,  there.  It  can  scarcely,  then,  be  upon  the 
plea  of  ignorance  that  he  would  debar  me  from  the 
exercise  of  political  rights. 

"I  want  to  take  your  memories  back  to  1862.  In 
that  year  the  Emperor  of  Eussia,  with  one  stroke 
of  his  pen,  freed  22.000,000  of  serfs.  What  did  Eussia 
do  then?  Did  she  draw  lines  of  distinction  between 
those  who  had  been  serfs  and  her  other  citizens?  No; 
that  noble  prince,  upon  whose  realm  the  sun  never  sets, 


oiMEKlCzUf    SLAVERY.  f09 

after  having  freed  these  serfs,  invested  them  with  all 
the  political  rights  enjoyed  by  his  other  subjects. 
America  boasts  of  being  the  most  enlightened,  intelli- 
gent, and  enterprising  nation  in  the  world,  and  many 
people  look  upon  Russia  as  not  altogether  perfectly 
civilized.  But,  look  at  what  Russia  has  done  for  her 
slaves;  there  were  22  000,000  of  them,  while  there 
are  but  4  000  000  of  us  in  the  whole  South,  and  only 
half  a  million  in  Georgia.  How  can  you  say  you  have 
a  Republican  form  of  government  when  you  make 
such  distinctions  and  enact  such  proscriptive  laws? 

"  But,  Mr.  Speaker,  I  do  not  regard  this  movement 
as  a  thrust  at  me.  It  is  a  thrust  at  the  Bible — a  thrust 
at  the  God  of  the' universe,  for  making  a  man  and  not 
finishing  him;  it  is  simp'y  calling  the  Great  Jehovah 
a  fool.  Why,  sir,  though  we  are  not  white,  we  have 
accomplished  much.  We  have  pioneered  civilization 
here;  we  have  built  up  your  country;  we  have  worked 
in  }7our  fields,  and  garnered  your  harvests,  for  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years!  And  what  do  we  ask  of  you 
in  return?  Do  we  ask  you  for  compensation  for  the 
sweat  our  fathers  bore  for  you — for  the  tears  you  have 
caused,  and  the  hearts  you  have  broken,  and  the  lives 
you  have  curtailed,  and  the  blood  you  have  spilled? 
Do  we  ask  retaliation  ?  We  ask  it  not.  We  are  will- 
ing to  let  the  dead  past  bury  its  dead ;  but  we  ask  you 
now  for  our  rights.  You  have  all  the  elements  of  su- 
periority upon  your  side;  you  have  our  money  and 
your  own  ;  you  have  our  education  and  your  own ;  and 
you  have  our  land  and  your  own,  too.  We,  who  num- 
ber hundreds  of  thousands  in  Georgia,  including  our 
wives  and  families,  with  not  a  foot  of  land  to  call  our 
own — strangers  in  the  land  of  our  birth;  without 
money,  without  education,  without  aid,  without  a  roof 
to  cover  us  while  we  live,  nor  sufficient  clay  to  cover 
us  when  we  die!  It  is  extraordinary  that  a  race  such 
as  yours,  professing  gallantry,  and  chivalry,  and  edu- 
cation, and  superiority,  living  in  a  land  where  ringing 
chimes  call  child  and  sire  to  the  Church  of  God  — 
a  land  where  Bibles  are  read  and  gospel  truths  are 
spoken,  and  where  courts  of  justice  are  presumed  to 


200  ORIGIN  ?UVf)    HISTORY    OF 

exist;  it  is  extraordinary,  I  say,  that,  with  all  these 
advantages  on  your  side,  you  can  make  war  upon  the 
poor  defenseless  black  man.  You  know  we  have  no 
money,  no  railroads,  no  telegraphs,  no  advantages  of 
any  sort,  and  yet  all  manner  of  injustice  is  placed  upon 
us.  You  know  that  the  black  people  of  this  country 
acknowledge  you  as  their  superiors,  by  virtue  of  your 
education  and  advantages. 

"Where  have  you  ever  heard  of  4  000,000  of  freemen 
being  governed  by  laws,  and  yet  have  no  hand  in  their 
making?  Search  the  records  of  the  world,  and  you 
will  find  no  example.  '  Governments  derive  their  just 
powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed.'  How  dare 
you  to  make  laws  by  which  to  try  me  and  my  wife  and 
children,  and  dony  me  a  voice  in  the  making  of  these 
laws? 

"  Gentlemen  talk  a  good  deal  abont  the  negroes 
'building  no  monuments.'  I  can  tell  the  gentlemen 
one  thing;  that  is,  that  we  could  havebuilt  monuments 
of  fire  while  the  war  was  in  progress.  We  could  have 
fired  your  woods,  your  barns  and  fences,  and  called 
you  home.  Did  we  do  it?  No,  sir!  And  God  grant 
that  the  negro  may  never  do  it,  or  do  anything  else  that 
would  destroy  the  good  opinion  of  his  friends.  No  epi- 
thet is  sufficiently  opprobrious  for  us  now.  I  say,  sir, 
that  we  have  built  a  monument  of  docility,  of  obedi- 
ence, of  respect,  and  of  self  control,  that  will  endure 
longer  than  the  Pyramids  of  Egypt. 

"  We  are  a  persecuted  people.  Luther  was  perse- 
cuted; Galileo  was  persecuted;  good  men  in  all  na- 
tions have  been  persecuted:  but  the  persecutors  have 
been  handed  down  to  posterity  with  shame  and  igno- 
miny. 

'You  may  think  you  are  doing  yourselves  honor  by 
expelling  us  from  this  House;  but  when  we  go  we  will 
do  as  Wickliffe  and  as  Latimer  did.  We  will  light  a 
torch  of  truth  that  will  never  be  extinguished  —  the 
impression  that  will  run  through  the  country,  as  peo- 
ple picture  in  their  mind's  eye  these  poor  black  men, 
in  all  parts  of  the  Southern  country,  pleading  for  their 
rights. 


slMERlCsUT    SLAVERY.  20* 

"I  hope  our  poor,  down-trodden  race  may  act  well 
and  wisely  through  this  period  of  trial,  aDd  that  they 
will  exercise  patience  and  discretion  under  all  circum- 
stances. 

"  You  may  expel  us,  gentlemen,  by  your  votes,  to- 
day ;  but,  while  you  do  it,  remember  that  there  is  a  just. 
God  in  Heaven,  whose  All-Seeing  Eye  beholds  alike  the 
acts  of  the  oppressor  and  oppressed,  and  who  despite 
the  machinations  of  the  wicked  never  fails  to  vindicate 
the  cause  of  justice  and  the  sanctity  of  his  own  handi- 
work." 

But  enough!  the  aptitude  and  ability  of  the  negro 
race  to  receive  the  nobler  grades  of  education,  and  to 
exercise  understandingly  the  highest  religious  and  po- 
litical privileges,  has  been  amply  demonstrated  by  their 
own  action  and  example. 

As  citizens  of  the  restored  Union,  they  will  faithfully 
and  intelligently  discharge  their  sacred  trust.  Under 
the  benign  protection  of  the  government,  they  will  fos- 
ter and  develop  all  noble  and  praiseworthy  sentiments. 
The  Eepublic  need  not  blush  for  these  her  true  home- 
born  sons;  and  the  nations  of  the  earth,  who  now  are 
looking  curiously  and  in  astonishment  upon  their  rapid 
transformation,  well  may  learn  a  potent  lesson  from  the 
humble,  silent  teachings  of  The  Freed  men  of  America 


